House Minority Leader Diego T. Benavente, R-Saipan, said if the House leadership wanted to reject the $132 million budget measure, it should be done today so the bicameral conference committee could be formed right away.
But acting Speaker Felicidad T. Ogumoro, Covenant-Saipan, rescheduled for Monday the session set for today.
House Floor Leader George N. Camacho, Ind.-Saipan, said the bill was transmitted to the House at 11:30 a.m. yesterday.
He said they will have 24 hours to act on it after placing it on the calendar.
The House can act on the budget bill and form the conference committee on Monday, he added.
Rep. Raymond D. Palacios, Covenant-Saipan, said there are many provisions in the Senate version of the budget bill that could not be reconciled with the House’s original proposals.
“We have to reject the Senate version of the budget bill so we can form a conference committee and come up with a compromise version,” Palacios said.
He said the Senate’s decision to retain the current $86,000 in annual discretionary funding for each lawmaker, instead of increasing it to $130,000 as the House earlier proposed, “is fine with me.”
But there are other provisions proposed by the Senate that he wants to review further so he asked the acting speaker to include him in the conference committee.
The House budget bill imposed significant cuts on the Public School System, Northern Marianas College and the judiciary.
The senators, however, provided an additional $173,000 for PSS; $600,000 for NMC; and increased the judiciary’s budget from $2.9 million to $3.5 million.
The senators also proposed an eight-hour work reduction every pay period instead of the 16 hours that the House and the Fitial administration wanted.
