The Northern Marianas House of Representatives has passed a 114-million US dollar budget bill for the fiscal year 2013.
House Ways and Means Committee chair Ray Basa's budget bill passed by a vote of 11-4 following close to three hours of discussion and debate.
The budget bill now goes to the Senate, two and a half months before the start of fiscal year 2013 on the 1st of October.
If a budget is not enacted by then, the government will have to shut down until a budget is signed into law to comply with a constitutional mandate.