10 minutes is all it took for lawmakers to close out a highly-anticipated special session this morning. Nearly 100 Guam Memorial Hospital employees and their administrator watched from outside the session hall, only to be forced to leave without answers on critical funding, yet again.

After a weeklong recess, the special legislative session came to a close – wrapping up in less than a half-hour with nearly 100 GMH employees watching just outside the session hall. There they waited to hear whether Governor Lou Leon Guerrero’s budget proposals would go through to provide much needed support for Guam’s only public hospital

But there was no debate, just a single speaker – Senator Christopher Duenas outlined objections to the governor’s proposal. He said, “Colleagues, for 7 years the people of Guam have been told the same story. Keep the BPT at 5% and GMH will be saved. 7 years of record collections. 7 years of record-breaking budgets. Two billion in federal dollars and yet, GMH is in worse condition today than it was before.”

“Now, in her final year, the Governor once again says, ‘Keep it at 5% and this time it will work’. Let’s be honest, it hasn’t worked in 7 years and it will not work now.”

He went on to call the governor’s proposal “disingenuous”, claiming the administration is burying sweeping policy changes in the budget bill without public hearings — including a new police headquarters and sports field without funding sources, major changes to how the department of education handles $270 million in funds, and raising procurement thresholds for the attorney general from $500,000 to $5 million.

Senator Duenas said, “These are not technical fixes, my colleagues and Mr. Speaker. While I support some of these proposals, these are sweeping policy changes crammed into a budget with no public input.”

Some tried to intervene, with Senator Will Parkinson saying, “Point of order, Mr. Speaker. There is no time on the clock..." to which Speaker Frank Blas, Jr. asserted, "There is no time on the clock. Thank you very much. Proceed.”

 “I don’t know what this debate or discussion is, but I just ask that the body as a whole be allowed to debate and discuss the bill if there are sections of it that some of my colleagues disagree with. We can easily strike those sections out of the bill. But we have the employees of the GMH here and they’re watching this session very closely. They’re watching what we do and how we prioritize," Duenas said.

The speaker said, “Do you have a point of order? …Give the gentleman enough time to…thank you.”  But their calls were ultimately shut down by Blas and the session adjourned without allowing further debate.

In a statement released within the hour, Governor Leon Guerrero said “Instead of working with me today to keep GMH’s doors open and invest in the care of our families in need, the republican majority chose the wealthiest few over the rest of Guam…that is not leadership — that is abandonment.”

For GMH administrator Lillian Posadas, the abrupt adjournment was both shocking and disappointing. She added, “Senator Dueñas’ statement right at the outset was that they’re just going to reject and adjourn. We were all kind of shocked. The employees were like, ‘That’s it?’ They were shocked and disappointed, but we’re not going to lose hope.”

She stressed the hospital’s urgent needs, saying, “We’ve already had electrical fires," adding, “What are we going to wait for? To have a bigger fire? An explosion? We’re risking the patients lives and the lives of the employees with that and that’s why we’re pushing for the emergent infusion of funds, which the Legislature has the authority and the power [to give].”

And seeing her staff show up in numbers at the Guam Congress Building on behalf of the hospital, just to be disappointed by the swift adjournment was “overwhelming”.

Posadas said, “It was overwhelming and very heartwarming to see the show of the employees because they are the heart and soul of this hospital. They’re there despite the limitations, the limited supplies, and how old the hospital is. They’re there! They provide patient care and service.”

For posadas, even if they reached the same outcome in the end, opening up the floor for real debate would have been a “big win”. “I know Senator Dueñas was looking at the whole bill in itself, but we’re asking for at least discussion, debate on the part that applies to the hospital. They can make that amendment and then can reject everything else," she said.

Not long after the adjournment, Governor Leon Guerrero called lawmakers back to the People’s House yet again — issuing a letter for a third special session this afternoon, this time with a narrowly-focused measure. She wrote, “I now bring forth a focused bill with a singular purpose: to appropriate $40 million directly for the pressing needs of GMH.”

The legislature reconvened at 4pm today.