He said he and his colleagues in the House majority preferred a 16-hour cut because they didn’t want 383 people to lose their jobs.
The Senate, for its part, refused to budge from its eight-hour cut position.
Another member of the House leadership, Rep. Raymond D. Palacios, Covenant-Saipan, said he would be willing to support the eight-hour cut if there’s an assurance the governor would sign the budget bill into law and end the shutdown.
The issue now, he added, was how soon the shutdown would end.
Palacios said they could not pass something that the governor would veto.
The administration has said that an eight-hour cut is not enough and will require additional funding that the government doesn’t have.
Also on Saturday evening, three members of the House leadership — Rota’s Teresita A. Santos, Floor Leader George N. Camacho and Edmund S. Villagomez of Saipan — joined the minority bloc in slashing the leadership account from $400,000 to $50,000.
Rep. Trenton B. Conner, R-Tinian, attended the session and voted with the minority.
But the new budget bill passed by the House retained the 16-hour cut and 13 unpaid holidays proposed by the administration.
The Senate immediately held its own session and amended the budget to reflect an eight-hour cut and 10 unpaid holidays.
The bill returns to the House which is again expected to reject it.
