If no new budget is passed before Oct. 1, there will be another partial government shutdown.
Rep. Ray N. Yumul is hoping that the shutdown period will be shorter this time. Last year, the shutdown lasted for eight days before the Senate gave in to the House version of the budget.
With Rep. Froilan C. Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, absent yesterday, the House voted 12 to 7 to refer the Senate version of House Bill 17-215 to a conference committee composed of four members from each house.
Those who voted against the Senate version were Speaker Eli D. Cabrera, R-Saipan; Vice Speaker Felicidad T. Ogumoro, Covenant-Saipan; House Floor Leader George N. Camacho, Ind.-Saipan; Reps. Ramon S. Basa, Covenant-Saipan; Ralph S. Demapan, Covenant-Saipan; Raymond D. Palacios, Covenant-Saipan; Sylvestre I. Iguel, Covenant-Saipan; Edmund S. Villagomez, Covenant-Saipan; Fredrick P. Deleon Guerrero, Ind.-Saipan; Joseph M. Palacios, R-Saipan; Ray A. Tebuteb, R-Saipan; and Tony P. Sablan, R-Saipan.
Those who supported the Senate budget version which scrapped the leadership accounts and discretionary funds were House Minority Leader Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero, R-Saipan; Reps. Francisco S. Dela Cruz, R-Saipan; Yumul; Janet U. Maratita, R-Saipan; Trenton B. Conner, R-Tinian; and Stanley T. Torres, Ind.-Saipan.
Camacho, in an interview before the session, said the Senate version of the budget sacrifices the agencies that serve the entire CNMI to ensure funds for Tinian and Rota.
Basa said he understands it’s normal for the House and the Senate to differ ,“but it seems the Senate substitute turned the House proposal 360 degrees.”
The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he added that he is glad to hear from Northern Marianas College about how much exactly it needs. The House leadership, he said, is willing to find more funding for NMC. He is also glad that the Senate managed to identify the transitional worker’s fee as a new financial source to help CNMI education.
Basa said it is fine with him to “zero out” the leadership accounts and discretionary funds, but majority of the House members, he added, are “not okay with it.”
“We need the discretionary funds,” he said.
Villagomez, for his part, said he also has no problem zeroing out the leadership accounts but if they will also remove the discretionary funds his one and only office staffer will be unemployed.
Yumul said although he is worried about zeroing out the discretionary funds, he also wants the budget to be enacted “expeditiously” and avoid another shutdown.
“I’m not really enthusiastic about the Senate’s amendments but the key is to get it over today,” he added.
He noted that the governor already has less than 20 days to review the budget bill once lawmakers pass it.
Sen. Jovita M. Taimanao, Ind.-Rota, reiterated her stand to zero out the leadership accounts and discretionary funds. She said she is willing to share her own salary with her staffer.
Basa said he wants the conference committee to meet on Friday.
Besides Basa, the House conferees are Demapan, Deleon Guerrero and Sablan. Their Senate counterparts are Taimanao, Senate Vice President Jude U. Hofschneider, R-Tinian; Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, and Sen. Ralph DLG Torres, R-Saipan.
Although it still hopes to see the lawmakers to pass a budget on time, the Fitial administration is prepared for the shutdown, Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan said in an email interview.
The administration will have to brace for the worst, he added.
“While we certainly would like to avoid another shutdown, we will continue to take this approach so long as a budget remains to be enacted. Nonetheless, the governor and lt. governor would like to see our lawmakers come to terms on a budget that is realistic and sufficient to sustain government operations. Many families are already struggling with the reduction in work hours; a shutdown would just compound these families’ burdens more,” Demapan said.
He added that the Senate proposal to cut further the administration’s budget “would eventually hinder the departments’ activities under the executive branch.”
He said the governor’s budget submission already took into account austerity measures.
