Swift Senate action on House budget bill eyed

Senate President Ralph Torres (R-Saipan) said yesterday that the Senate will act immediately on the $134.33 million budget bill that the House passed on Tuesday, with barely two months to go before the fiscal year 2015 budget deadline.

“I’d like to see members move this bill expeditiously,” Torres told Saipan Tribune. “Members of the Senate begin reviewing the bill this week, followed by a leadership meeting on the budget bill next week.”

Torres said they are aiming to place the budget bill on the Senate session calendar in early August.

Historically, the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota), would hold the same budget hearings that the Ways and Means Committee already held for several weeks. This usually takes weeks. Agencies that did not get what they want from the House version of the budget bill would also go to the Senate to lobby for a higher budget.

Torres said yesterday the Senate recognizes that the House, through it Ways and Means Committee, had already heard from agencies seeking more funding than what’s proposed for them either under the governor’s proposal or the House version.

“I’m sure critical agencies would be addressed. We’ve been through this process over and over. There should be justification for drastic changes in agencies’ budget. I also congratulate the House speaker, the Ways and Means Committee chairman, and the members and the full House for their passage of the bill. We are looking forward to a harmonious budget process,” Torres added.

Once the Senate amends any provision of the budget bill, the bill goes back to the House for either acceptance or rejection of the Senate amendments.

If and when the House rejects any or all of the Senate amendments, a conference committee from both chambers will be formed to hash out the differences and come up with a compromise 2015 spending plan.

If no new budget is passed and signed by Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year, then the government would have to shut down and lawmakers’ salaries would be suspended until a new budget is in place.

“The Senate will do everything in its authority to prevent a government shutdown. I highly doubt a shutdown because of the good working relationship we have with the House and its leadership,” Torres added.

House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) said he hopes the Senate “does not reinvent the wheel” by holding the same budget hearings and legwork that the House already did.