HOUSE Ways and Means Committee Chairman Donald Manglona on Friday said the fiscal year 2023 budget bill they passed is “transparent, responsible and takes into account [that] our American Rescue Plan Act funds [will] run out.”
Without a new balanced budget on Oct. 1, 2022, there will be a partial government shutdown.
In a press conference in the House chamber, Manglona said they are ready to address whatever concerns the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee may have, adding that the governor should respect the budget process and the Legislature. The House bill is pending in the Senate.
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres has said that the House bill would “cut critical government resources from essential governmental agencies and departments in favor of giving themselves an additional $1.2 million for House allocations.”
The Independent-Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee issued a media statement on Tuesday last week to “set the record straight,” and held a media conference on Friday to “clear the misinformation” from the Republican governor.
Manglona said since the governor’s initial budget submission on April 1, the governor had three months to address many of the concerns he brought up, but “that was not done.”
So, Ways and Means Committee took it upon itself to make “tough decisions,” Manglona said.
He reiterated that they “stand ready to work with them in getting the balanced budget passed before deadline,” referring to the Republican-led Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee.
“We all know that this is a general election year, and since some of us may not be here next year we are taking a responsible approach in making sure that the next Legislature, as well as the next administration, whoever that may be, will work with a budget that is transparent, responsible and takes into account the preparation for the fiscal cliff and that is when our ARPA [funds] run out,” Manglona said.
He said he would like to put out the “facts” and let the people decide who is telling the truth.
During their media conference, he and the other members of the committee presented the worksheets from the governor’s submission and compared them to the Ways and Means House Bill 22-116.
Rep. Celina Babauta, a member of the committee, noted that the governor’s Republican allies in the House also voted to pass the bill.
Manglona said the decisions they made were “difficult” but “we always acted in the best interest of our Commonwealth.”
He said the governor has accused the House leadership of taking several actions that are unconstitutional, but “this is just the Torres administration’s attempt to discredit the work that was done and the research [we conducted] to ensure that our actions are within [our] authority,” Manglona said.
Rep. Corina Magofna, the Ways and Means vice chair, said: “Governor Torres, our people deserve the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Therefore, I humbly ask that you please stop the lies and stop misinforming them about the budget because they deserve better. And I know that you know that they deserve better. It’s not fair to our people, and it’s definitely not fair to us legislators.”
Magofna said the governor’s accusation that the House passed an illegal bill “is simply unfounded, baseless, and has no merit. And I don’t know about you, or the rest of the House members, but I personally would never engage in such illegal acts that would place me in a precarious situation, jeopardize my livelihood, and most importantly, risk losing my freedom and be taken away from my children. It’s simply never gonna happen.”
In addition to the unfair accusation, she said the governor also insulted the House leadership and the House minority bloc since H.B. 22-116 was passed unanimously by all House members present.
Reps. Sheila Babauta, Joseph Leepan Guerrero, Joseph Flores and Leila Staffler were excused from the session when the House unanimously passed H.B. 22-116. Sheila Babauta and Staffler are Democrats; Guerrero is a Republican; and Flores is an Independent who caucuses with the Republicans. The other House Republicans are Christopher Ada, Angel Demapan and Patrick San Nicolas.
“So, there you have it,” Magofna said. “You [the governor] literally threw your fellow Republicans under the bus by inferring that they participated and committed an illegal act on the passage of the budget bill. Not sure if you thought that one through when you dished it out. But you definitely degraded your fellow House Republicans, and that’s unfortunate because I can assure you that some of them, in my opinion, are very competent and well-grounded,” Magofna said.
Manglona reiterated that “the operational budgets” of departments and agencies were “zeroed out” in the governor’s proposed budget.
“And we could not, in good conscience, pass a budget that provided nothing at all for operations. The committee was then challenged to identify funding and provide funds to each of the agencies so that they have something to work with,” he said.
Manglona said they “continue to maintain that the Legislature has the authority to appropriate [ARPA] funds especially if [they have] been identified in the budget submission.”
Magofna said, based on their reading and understanding of the law, and with the concurrence of the House legal counsel, the Ways and Means Committee considered the ARPA funds to be “additional revenues.”
She added, “Thus, we proceeded to allocate and appropriate the funds accordingly. And it is fact that we did not violate any law in the process.”
She said they also have an email correspondence dated Feb. 9, 2022, from Ms. Namrata Mujumdar, who is the lead for policy outreach of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, stating that “The State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program as established in the ARPA does not prevent a State or Territory’s legislature…from engaging in the process of allocating and expending [the] funds in accordance with applicable law.”
“So, based on this clarification from Ms. Mujumdar, it is fact and substantiated that we were within our rights to allocate and appropriate the ARPA funds that you [the governor] identified in your Budget Proposal. And most importantly, we did so legally. We’ll be more than happy to share the email correspondence with you upon request,” Magofna said.
Magofna said, according to a survey on the BallotPedia website, 42 of 50 states have joint legislative authority over the allocation of ARPA funds.
“What does that tell you? That the CNMI is not an exception, As of this time, the House is not aware of any existing law here in the CNMI that prohibits us, the Legislature, from allocating and appropriating the ARPA funds in the Budget. So, there you have it,” Magofna said.
For his part, the governor’s legal counsel Gilbert J. Birnbrich said, “The biggest issue from a legal standpoint regarding ARPA is the fact that the House was trying to appropriate these funds for various uses, which is simply inappropriate and illegal.”
He added, “Because these are federal funds, and therefore, are heavily regulated for specific purposes, they are regulated by the federal government regarding how [they] should be spent and used, and as such, they are ‘custodial funds.’ Because of that, they cannot be treated like general fund money. The Governor, under ARPA, has the authority to spend it, not the Legislature, and he has a very well-thought-out plan which the House of Representatives ignored. So, we believe that their appropriation of the ARPA funds is unlawful.”
According to Magofna, “We can assure you that we take our jobs very seriously, by being responsible and doing our due diligence with the support, assistance and guidance of the House legal counsel every step of the way.”
“Governor,” she said on Friday, “we have exactly 14 days from today to come together, iron out the issues and concerns that you, the Senate, and the House may have, and pass a balanced budget before the Sept. 30 deadline. Let’s be proactive, and not reactive. And let us prove to our people with actions, and not with words, that as public servants we will put their best interests first before our personal and political differences. And by the way, Governor, in today’s news article in the Saipan Tribune you asked, ‘How did I lie?’ Well, Governor, ask and you shall receive. And just remember, arrogance will get you in trouble every time.”
For his part, Rep. Vicente Camacho asked, “If you [the governor] are not lying, then who is lying for you? If you don’t know who in your cabinet received salary increases, then you are being misinformed by your executive body. If you are not overspending, then why is it necessary for you to defend your statement? Why didn’t you just come out and declare that you are not a liar, and you are not overspending?”
House Ways and Means Chair Donald Manglona, right background, and Vice Chair Corina Magofna, left background, preside over a press conference Friday in the House chamber.
