Infighting delays budget approval

With two days left before the end of the current fiscal year, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio met yesterday with the House of Representatives in an apparent bid to scuttle attempts by lawmakers to alter the budget proposal for FY 2000.

But it is not sure yet whether the Legislature will be able to approve the package amounting to $206 million as members expressed fear they might not beat the constitutionally-mandated deadline with uncertainties still looming.

“I am not sure whether the budget will be passed at the end of the fiscal year,” Tenorio told reporters.

Failure to do so would mean the government will have to run under continuing resolution based on the funding level approved the previous year.

During the emergency meeting, the governor asked House members to work closely with his administration on the proposed changes to the spending package in light of the dwindling revenues confronting the government.

“I reminded them that our resources are not that good. We still haven’t improved yet and so we have to live within the resources that we have,” he said.

Tenorio, disclosed, however, the House has not informed him of the amendments to the budget it is considering.

“That’s one of the reasons why they should meet with us, with my staff… to make sure that all the agency will be provided enough funding to operate,” added the governor.

The administration submitted last April the budget which represents a drop of nearly two percent from FY 1999 revised spending limit of $210 million — a decline it has attributed to the worsening economic difficulties besetting the island.

While the House Ways and Means Committee has been eyeing several measures to increase the share of key departments and agencies, particularly the Scholarship’s Office, it is not certain whether such proposal will draw the administration’s support.

Already, the governor has cautioned against moves to raise the budget earmarked for the government scholarship program as the Legislature has to identify funding sources first so that students will not end up waiting for additional financial aid.

Rep. Karl T. Reyes, who heads the committee that deals with financial affairs of the government, last week said the panel has decided to eliminate funding for the proposed purchase of computer hardware to shift the money to the scholarship program.

His counterpart in the Senate, Fiscal Affairs Committee Chairman Pete P. Reyes yesterday threw support behind the proposal, noting that the government must prioritize the education of its youth than upgrading its computer inventory.

Sources privy to the ongoing budget review being conducted by the Ways and Means Committee say the final approval within the committee level has been bogged down by infighting among some members on how much each department or agency should get.

The House has scheduled a session tomorrow to vote on the budget. If it passes, it will head to the Senate for another round of voting before the governor signs it into law.