The government's ailing financial condition has resulted in a one-week postponement of the Senate Committee on Finance's budget hearings.
The month-long hearings, during which the allotment of each government department and agency is scrutinized, were scheduled to begin July 27. They will now start on Aug. 4.
"The director of the budget contacted me . . . and said because of the serious worsening of the financial condition of the government, it's taken more time for departments and agencies to analyze the cuts that he has requested," Finance Chair Sen. Lorraine Berry said during Wednesday's senate session.
The budget must be revised after the additional 10 percent government-wide budget cuts announced by Gov. Charles Turnbull last week.
"The information they're requesting is the additional 10 percent cut, which would change all of the activity centers of the budget and there's nothing you can discuss if all the information is changing," Berry said. "And, I believe if we want to be effective in the process we need to cooperate and coordinate."