Governor Lou Leon Guerrero addressed the people of Guam Friday morning, saying the ongoing crisis at Guam Memorial Hospital “cannot be ignored.”

She criticized the Legislature for recessing a month without acting on her emergency bills that would repair failing electrical systems, cover utility bills, and ensure patient safety. Instead, she said, senators chose to “leave GMH to burn in its own need.”

The governor warned that relying on a federal reallocation of funds is risky—both because GMH needs immediate help and because Guam could lose the money by missing deadlines.

To move forward, she vetoed the Legislature’s budget bill and returned a substitute version: fiscally identical, but keeping the Business Privilege Tax at 5%. The $40 million set aside for tax cuts would instead go directly to GMH.

“For more than 40 years we have changed boards, management, even governors—but we have never fully funded GMH,” she said. “This is not about blame or credit. It’s about whether we will finally do what our people expect of government: to solve problems and make progress.”

The governor urged senators to pass her substitute budget immediately, saying the choice is clear: “Support GMH for all of us or secure a tax giveaway for the favored few.”