{"id":235579,"date":"2016-09-02T06:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T20:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=235579"},"modified":"2016-09-02T06:00:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T20:00:37","slug":"cruzs-cut-cap-balance-plan-passes-14-1-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/cruzs-cut-cap-balance-plan-passes-14-1-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz\u2019s \u2018Cut, Cap, and Balance\u2019 plan passes by 14-1 vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>HAG\u00c5T\u00d1A, Guam<\/strong>\u2014By a bipartisan majority of 14-1, the Guam Legislature officially voted to cut, cap, and balance the government\u2019s budget with the passage of Substitute Bill No. 250-33 (COR) (SB250) this afternoon, continuing its conservative approach in Fiscal Year 2017 (FY2017). The budget measure, as substituted, cuts $55 million from the Gov. Eddie Calvo\u2019s proposed General Fund spending plan, caps future borrowing by reducing the government of Guam\u2019s debt ceiling, and ensures that revenues remain at realistic levels\u2014offering a far more fiscally conservative plan than originally proposed by the executive branch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur \u2018Cut, Cap, and Balance\u2019 plan received overwhelming bipartisan support today because my colleagues realized that a balanced budget is more important than partisan politics,\u201d said Cruz. \u201cI want to thank every member of the Guam Legislature for their help and hard work. Together, we built a strong budget based on conservative revenues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cruz maintains that the budget bill, as adopted by both sides of the aisle, reflects realistic revenue projections and \u201cmoderate growth\u201d in line with the forecasts of Guam\u2019s economic experts, while still covering all existing government personnel requirements. Moreover, the FY2017 budget adopts conservative revenues, unanimously accepted by members of the Legislature during this year\u2019s budget deliberations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the second consecutive year, my colleagues kept faith with what our parents taught us: spend less, save more, and don\u2019t make promises you can\u2019t keep,\u201d said Cruz. \u201cThis budget shows that senators separated by party can be united by common sense. Our people should be proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the appropriations chair notes that SB250 continues to furnish Calvo with the flexibility needed to address priorities within the executive branch. The substitute measure grants the Governor lump-sum appropriations and expanded transfer authority\u2014providing extraordinary tools for effectively managing the government\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen so much of our politics is centered on conflict, I am humbled by the cooperation extended to me by each of my colleagues\u2014Republican and Democrat. I thank them for their trust and support,\u201d concluded Cruz. \u201cI now ask Governor Calvo to join in our bipartisan effort and sign our budget into law.\u201d <strong>(PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HAG\u00c5T\u00d1A, Guam\u2014By a bipartisan majority of 14-1, the Guam Legislature officially voted to cut, cap,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[20,8979,12023,2613],"class_list":["post-235579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-budget","tag-eddie-calvo","tag-general-fund","tag-guam-legislature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}