Minority split on budget override

Allies of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial in the House of Representatives were split yesterday on whether or not to support an override of the budget veto sent by the administration.

Some members of the minority bloc expressed their opposition to the austerity measures being proposed by the governor, some conditionally supported the override, while a few said they are “undecided” as of press time.

Rep. Raymond Palacios indicated his willingness to vote “yes” on the override if the proposed austerity measures being proposed by Fitial do not exempt low-income earners, whom he said would suffer the most “impact.”

“Until the proposed austerity measures [by the governor] will exempt low-income earners, I will not support it,” he told Saipan Tribune, affirming the same stance he had since the first drafting of the budget.

This is the second time House members will attempt to override the governor’s veto action on the budget after they failed to get the needed 14 votes the first time around.

Although Rep. Stanley Torres vocally announced his support to imposing austerity measures, he said his approval of the governor’s wish still depends on “what type of cost-cutting” will be enforced.

“I support putting austerity measures to cut excessive spending [in the government]…but I need to find out what are these specific measures. If this will result [in] workforce reduction or layoff of employees, I don’t think I will agree to that,” he said.

Rep. Justo Quitugua said he will carefully weigh his decision whether to support or reject the override proposal.

Quitugua does not support the reinstatement of austerity Fridays in government because he believes that this wasn’t effective in the past. Austerity Fridays mean the shutdown of government operations every alternating Friday.

“I am against this type of austerity measure because we have tried it in the past and it didn’t work. So what’s the use of re-imposing the same type of cost-cutting measure, which I deem unfairly implemented?” Quitugua said.

Quitugua believes there are other ways to effectively bring down the government’s expenditures.

“We can trim the budget spending by allowing employees to avail of early retirement and freeze hiring ‘replacements’ for those positions,” the lawmaker said, adding that austerity Fridays in FY 2007 brought only more “uncertainties” than good.

Rep. Heinz Hofschneider said he will completely support the “override” proposal because he believes the governor’s rejection of the budget bill is only part of his “games.” He said the administration from the beginning has been inconsistent in submitting “factual figures” to the Legislature.

“For me it’s more important to have a budgetary guideline in place…than debate on these austerity measures. They’ve ran out of excuses now…” he said.

Although Tinian Rep. Edwin Aldan agrees to reduced work hours in government offices, he emphasized the need to “pass a new budget.” He noted the serious impact of not having a budget for Tinian operation.

However, Aldan has yet to decide whether he will vote for or against the override.

“I am going to sit down with the minority leadership and consult with the members…before I make my decision. We need to carefully look at the veto message and from there, the minority will plan,” he said.

The minority bloc in the House is headed by Rep. Oscar Babauta, who was unavailable for comments yesterday.