The Fitial administration wanted no-pay holidays and austerity Fridays included in the fiscal year 2009 budget bill, but this was rejected by the House of Representatives.
“We supported the governor’s austerity measures, but the House didn’t,” Reyes said in an interview. “It takes two [legislative] houses to pass a budget, so as a compromise we agreed to consider [austerity measures] separately. The Senate is willing to assist the administration, but we also need to coordinate with the House.”
Like most lawmakers, Reyes believes that austerity Fridays — which require the shutdown of government agencies every other Friday — is unfair to low-income government employees.
“There are too many exemptions [granted to other employees] — no-pay holidays are the way to go; they’re more equitable; no exemptions,” he said.
According to the Senate president, “the bottom-line is that we don’t want to see employees terminated or displaced.”
He added, “As President Obama said in his inaugural address, ‘For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the…selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.’ ”
The $148 million budget bill for FY 2009 was transmitted to the governor on Thursday and he has until Feb. 10 to act on the measure.
Asked if the Senate will override the governor’s expected veto, Reyes said: “I don’t know yet; we need to see what the governor will do first. He can line-item veto. We don’t want to second guess him.”
In separate interviews, House leaders who declined to be identified said on Friday that “we have the numbers to override.”
The governor rejected the first version of the budget bill, but the House failed to override the veto.
Without a new budget, the government will continue to operate under spending ceilings higher than the actual revenue projection.
Most lawmakers believe that without a new budget in this general election year, the government will overspend, again.
