Committee Chairwoman Jovita M. Taimanao, Ind.-Rota, said the committee decided to bring the amount from $130,000, as proposed by the House, to $86,000, which is its current level.
Taimanao, in an interview, said the Legislature should “share the pain.”
She noted that necessary budget cuts must be imposed on all government agencies to protect essential services.
She assured that the Senate considers education, health and public safety as priorities.
Senate President Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, said there won’t be much debate in the Senate on the budget bill.
Most of the work on the measure was already completed by the Senate and House, so he is confident they can act on the budget this Friday.
He said the Senate welcomed the recommendations from the House leadership and minority bloc.
“So we hope we can still balance the budget and try to address, at least to some extent, everyone’s concerns,” he added.
“We can’t expect to satisfy all the members completely but at least the version of the budget will be closer to everyone’s position and this will make it quicker for us to pass the budget,” he said.
If amended by the Senate, the budget bill have to return to the House which must pass it again.
If the House rejects the Senate version, both chambers will convene a bicameral conference committee to iron out their differences.
FY 2011 starts on Oct. 1. Without a new balanced budget on that date, the government, except for essential services, will shut down.
Manglona said the Senate session on Friday will be held at Tinian Elementary School at 3 p.m.
He said they wanted to hold the session on Saipan but the brother of Senate Vice President Jude U. Hofschneider, R-Tinian, passed away recently and Hofschneider would not be able to attend the session if it’s held on Saipan.
Due to the urgency of the budget bill, he said they decided to hold the session on Tinian.
The Senate rules require them to also hold sessions on Rota and Tinian.
