Senate pessimistic on new budget

More and more lawmakers believe that no new budget will be passed on or before Friday this week.

“Where is the budget bill in the first place?” asked Senate majority leader Paul A. Manglona.

“It’s only concurrent resolution that we have now. What can you do with [that]? A budget bill is needed to have a new budget,” said Sen. Thomas “Kiyu” P. Villagomez.

“There won’t be any budget. There’s no budget bill,” said Senate minority leader Pete P. Reyes.

Manglona said House Concurrent Resolution 14-3, which identifies $206.5 million for fiscal year 2006, merely serves “as a cover page.”

“It serves nothing if it’s not accompanied by the budget bill,” said Manglona.

At the House of Representatives, House Ways and Means Committee chair Norman S. Palacios said they would wait for the Senate’s adoption of the concurrent resolution before they introduce the budget bill.

He said the House also intends to prioritize the piecemeal budget of the Public School System.

“After PSS, we’ll do the budget for other departments,” he said.

As of now, he said the House leadership has yet to gather and discuss what to do with the budget bill.

“We’ve not done it. We’ve yet to draft the budget but we’ll do the PSS budget first. That’s the consensus for now,” said Palacios.

The congressman reiterated that the Constitution does not give a deadline for the Legislature to pass a new budget.

Palacios’ counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Joseph Mendiola, earlier warned that starting fiscal year 2006 with no new budget is “tolerating the government to run on deficit.”

Mendiola, chair of the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs, noted that the government is projected to collect only $206 million in FY 2006, which is $7 million lower than the continuing resolution level.

If no new budget is passed on or before Friday, the government automatically runs on continuing resolution, which is $213 million.

The administration earlier submitted a $225.8-million budget proposal to the Legislature, which contained revenue-enhancement proposals that would generate $20 million.

Sen. Reyes said yesterday that the inability of the Legislature to pass a budget shows that the Babauta administration “cannot work with the Legislature.”

“The administration can’t persuade the Legislature enough to let them pass the budget. There’s a lack of working relationship between the governor and the Legislature,” he said.