However, two members of the minority bloc — Saipan Republican Reps. Eliceo D. Cabrera and Joseph M. Palacios — also voted against the bill.
The members of the House leadership who joined the rest of the minority bloc in support of the bill were Rep. Teresita A. Santos, Ind.-Rota, and Rep. Stanley T. McGinnis Torres, Ind.-Saipan.
Acting Speaker Felicidad T. Ogumoro, Covenant-Saipan, said the session will resume today and H.B. 17-96 will remain on the bill calendar.
House Floor Leader George N. Camacho, Ind.-Saipan, said they expect to break the tie today because Speaker Tenorio may join them.
Villagomez, Camacho added, is off-island and won’t be back until Sept. 17.
Tenorio had “medical issues” yesterday.
“We hope he will be fine today so he can vote to kill the bill,” Camacho added.
He said the Senate version of the budget has a lot of discrepancies that need to be addressed.
Once the House rejects the bill, both chambers will convene a bicameral conference committee to draft a new version acceptable to the House and the Senate.
Santos said she voted to support the Senate version because it provided for additional full-time employees and increased appropriation for Rota.
She, however, is concerned about the “dramatic” reduction in the appropriation for utilities which she hopes the conference committee will address.
House Minority Leader Diego T. Benavente, R-Saipan, said the Senate version of the bill is better than the House’s original proposal.
The Senate’s amendments, he noted, reduced the discretionary funds of lawmakers and addressed the concerns of the Public School System, Northern Marianas College and other essential agencies.
Rep. Francisco S. Dela Cruz, R-Saipan, said the Senate version of the bill is more rational compared to the House’s.
He hopes the conference committee will not raise the Legislature’s allotments again.
Any further delay in the passage of the budget will result in a government shutdown, he added.
Rep. Trenton B. Connor, R-Tinian, said he is concerned about the families that will be affected if the Legislature fails to pass the budget before Oct. 1 as this will shut down the government, except for the critical agencies.
He said the issues have been addressed reasonably in the Senate version of the bill.
Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, R-Saipan, reminded the House leadership that the Constitution gives the governor only 20 days prior to Oct. 1 to sign the budget.
Rep. Raymond D. Palacios, Covenant-Saipan, asked: “Who would ever have any interest in a government shutdown?”
The House leadership, he added, wants the budget passed before Oct. 1, “that is why we want to bring it to the conference committee to iron out our differences.”
He said if the bill was passed right away, the governor would veto it. And that, he added, would cause a real delay.
