The Northern Marianas' House of Representatives has passed a bill expected to reduce government costs by more than 4 and a half million million US dollars for the remainder of this fiscal year.
The bill, that'll now go before the Senate for approval or rejection, will try to do so by cutting government work hours from the regular 80 to 70 hours per pay period.
Our correspondent, Mark Rabago, says the administration supports the bill arguing it's better to cut hours than jobs.
But he says there's some opposition.
"The agency which has the biggest concern is the public school system. They get grants from the US department of education. They're fearful that if the agency is affected by these cuts then they will have to surrender some of the grants. They are expected to lose million sof dollars if the senate passes this bill."
Mark Rabago
