Are legislative employees facing a payless payday? Rules chairman Mike San Nicolas submitted a resolution Thursday to continue the Guam Legislature's budget for the second half of the fiscal year, but other senators are resisting the bid for an abrupt approval without knowing the spending specifics.

The latest tit-for-tat follows a last-minute resolution by Senator San Nicolas, who as Rules chairman controls the legislative budget. San Nicolas is seeking to continue the remaining half-year of operations under the current allocation. Not so fast say several colleagues - Senators Dennis Rodriguez, Frank Aguon Jr. and Joe S. San Agustin introduced a resolution of their own to continue under the current allocation, but only for two weeks - to allow enough time for the rules committee to meet and discuss specifically where their finances stand.

They say under the standing rules, they need to vote on the budget. And before they do they want to hear the spending specifics. And without such transparency -they claim it would be a disservice to employees, vendors and the public.

San Nicolas countered in a statement late Friday that his colleagues were turning a routine process into another internal struggle. He defended his last minute move as a simple formality to continue operations, that should come as no surprise. San Nicolas claims cost-cutting measures that have saved the legislature 20 percent from the previous quarter.

The next legislative paycheck won't be affected by the lack of a budget approval, but the next pay period would be. San Nicolas will need six positive votes from his members, and can do so through signatures without holding a meeting.

If not, the clock is ticking until the April 17 deadline proposed by the other resolution.

Senator Aguon said. "I do not believe discussions on the finances of the legislature is too much to ask before voting on a budget resolution. I do not understand why the COR Chairman would take such an adversarial approach. The COR Chairman has made some good changes in process and operations with the current legislature but falls short in communicating the current state of our branch of government."