They agreed to appropriate the amount proposed by President Johnson Toribiong.
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jonathan Isechal, in an interview, said the conferees approved an authorization appropriating $56.5 million for FY 2010, and an appropriation of $53.709 million.They also agreed to increase the budgets of the education, justice and health minstries.But the conferees rejected any appropriation for an executive branch pay hike as requested by the president.The conferees agreed to cut by 5 percent the state block grants while restoring the 10 percent increase in appropriation for public schools.The conferees removed the $1.5 million earmarked for low-income household assistance, and stated that the budget for the Micronesian Games, which will be held in Palau in 2010, wil be put on hold unless a funding source can be identified.The conference committee convened after the Senate rejected the House version of the budget bill.
