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House remains divided on FY 2005 budget bill
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Posted on Oct 04 2004
Once again, the House of Representatives cancelled its scheduled session yesterday after failing to reach a consensus on the 2005 budget bill.
“We’re still working on the details,” said House leadership member Rep. Justo Quitugua.
He said the leadership and the minority bloc members are reviewing the bill “item by item.”
“I don’t think we can have a session until we’re done with it,” he said.
Minority members Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero and Ray Tebuteb said, “We’re still in discussion.”
The House will try to hold a session today in hopes to pass the budget before the Senate’s session on Rota tomorrow.
The House minority, which has been asking for a copy of the bill, only began to openly raise its concerns with the leadership yesterday.
The leadership had promised those in the minority that they would get their copies of the bill by late Friday but this did not materialize, pending further revisions of the measure.
Based on their initial discussions, both parties agreed to spare three government agencies from budget cuts: Public School System, Department of Public Safety, and Department of Public Health.
Meantime, Quitugua said the budget bill discussion centers on two points: administrative provisions and the budget sheet.
The bill, according to House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Norman S. Palacios, aims to impose an across-the-board budget cut on all agencies, except the three identified departments.
This came after the House adopted a $212.65 million budget for next year, instead of the current funding of $213.65 million.
In addition, the House panel wants to identify funds for the payment of retroactive pay for Rota and Tinian government employees as well as the administration’s education initiative program.
Some lawmakers said that the Senate would raise the budget level to $215 million in consideration of over $2.1 million in projected revenues to be generated by the newly enacted amnesty tax bill.
The Babauta administration submitted a $226-million budget for 2005 but is said to be agreeable to a $215-million level.
