They said they wouldn’t, but they will. Although at first the legislative leaders seemed reluctant to reduce their expenses–alleging that the Legislative Branch isn’t part of the ‘government instrumentalities’ under the jurisdiction of the Fiscal Control Board (FCB)–, they will have no other option. The Legislative Assembly will have to operate with $27.5 million less in the upcoming fiscal year, hence adapting to the cutbacks of Governor Ricardo Rosselló’s recommended budget.

This past fiscal year, the Legislative Assembly had a budgetary allocation of $158,880,000; meanwhile, this year, the budget recommended by the governor consists of $131,322,000, which is 17% less to the amount assigned for the Capitol’s expenses and operation.

After learning about the cut, the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House—Thomas Rivera Schatz and Carlos ‘Johnny’ Méndez, respectively—ensured that the reduction is in line with the fiscal reality the country faces, and that it was an agreement made in conjunction with the governor himself.

This statement paints a very different picture from what was said at the beginning of this term, when the chairman of the Fiscal Control Board, José B. Carrión III, called on the rest of the government to make proportional cutbacks due to the Island’s fiscal situation.

In this regard, when the chairman of the FCB said he did not rule out extending its inherence to the Legislative Branch because of the Capitol spending millions of dollars in contracts, it sparked a crossfire with the Senate president.

‘The Board costs Puerto Rico far more than the Legislature,’ said Rivera Schatz at that moment.

‘We have taken the necessary measures to keep an adequate fiscal control, so I don’t see an intervention from the Board as necessary, aside from the fact that, legally, they have no inherence over the Legislature. Only over the Executive and the corporations established in the law. So we have no problem with that,’ answered the House speaker in February to questions from reporters.

Since January, the excessive spending in professional service contracts to former officials and defeated political candidates unleashed a battle between the legislative leadership and the chairman of the FCB, José B. Carrión III, after the body recommended prudence in the Legislature’s public spending.

Several letters sent back then by Carrión III warned the Rosselló administration of the governing body’s power to revise approved legislature, and told the Legislature that it was not exempt of the requirement to reduce contracting as much as possible, and as quickly as possible.

‘We have called on them to make proportional cutbacks in the Legislature, in light of the situation that our people and the Executive Branch are facing. We ask the Legislature and the Judicial Branch to participate. I don’t think it was particularly well received in the Puerto Rican Senate, but in every event we have asked that,’ accepted Carrión III in March.

The consolidated budget recommended for the Legislative Assembly for the 2017-2018 fiscal year amounts to $131,322,000. The resources include $84,275,000 that originate from the Joint Resolution of the General Budget and another $47,047,000 from Special Allocations.

‘The operating expenses will allow for the compliance of the Legislative Assembly’s administrative duties, in keeping with the implementation of the public policy established in Administrative Notices No. OE201701, OE201709, and the Fiscal Plan approved by the Financial Oversight and Management Board created under PROMESA,’ states the document that presents the recommended budget.