RETIRING THE DEFICIT House leadership vows to help Teno

House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial pledged to work closely with the administration in order to bring down the huge government deficit as well as to improve the financial condition of the Commonwealth.

He made this commitment after meeting with finance officials, led by Finance Sec. Lucy DLG. Nielsen and Mike Sablan, the governor’s special advisor on finance and budget. Members of his coalition that assumed the House leadership last Monday also attended the meeting.

According to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Antonio Camacho, the talked focused on general issues concerning financial affairs of the government, but did not tackle specific recommendations by the Tenorio administration.

Mr. Fitial said they briefly discussed ways on how to reduce the deficit which at present stood at $70.7 million based on the preliminary report submitted by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to the Legislature.

“We will be working very closely with the governor’s office for budget and finance to work out a system by which the government deficit can be gradually reduced,” he told in an interview after the one-hour discussion.

Since this was their first meeting since Monday’s House inaugural, Mr. Fitial said the new leadership just wanted to give the Tenorio administration “a general feeling how we will be working with them very closely on essential issues.”

A meeting is set again next week with the Senate leadership and the governor to continue their discussion on pressing issues confronting the CNMI, particularly on its financial state.

Mr. Fitial laid out last Monday the cornerstones of the coalition of Republicans, Democrats and Independents that took control of the lower house, including economic revitalization and continuous delivery of essential services to the public.

In the recent report made by Mr. Tenorio, the chief executive cited a $10 million drop in the worsening budget deficit which he attributed to the drastic austerity measures he put in place when he took office in January 1998.

It noted that the deficit declined to $70.7 million from the record $80.6 million posted at the end of fiscal year 1998 and that finance officials are projecting further reduction through tighter fiscal discipline and economic revitalization efforts.