Senator rejects Adelup's claim of double-appropriation in island's budget

A budget dispute is continuing to unfold in the final hours leading up to the governor’s State of the Island Address with the Leon Guerrero Administration calling out senators for appropriating the same dollars twice and driving Guam’s finances toward a deficit.

On Tuesday, ahead of Governor Lou Leon Guerrero's final SOTI Address, her office released a pointed statement addressing Guam’s financial position. The administration says senators have been appropriating funds the government no longer has, warning it could lead to a deficit.

Following a review by the Department of Administration and the Bureau of Budget Management & Research, officials determined no General Fund balance from Fiscal Year 2024 was available to carry into FY 2025.

BBMR also advised agencies that as of December 2025, the estimated General Fund balance was a negative $13.98 million – meaning the government lacked sufficient available cash to support new obligations.

According to Adelup, the confusion comes from agencies underspending. On paper, unspent appropriations can appear as surplus funds, but the administration says when lawmakers re-appropriate those dollars and agencies later attempt to use their original funding, the government ends up over-committing, spending the same dollar twice, which “inevitably leads to deficits.”

The Governor’s Office added, “the government cannot spend money it does not have, regardless of how budget language is written…the people of Guam expect essential services to be funded sustainably."

Committee on Finance & Government Operations chair Senator Christopher Dueñas responded to the release, going as far as to cheekily suggest that the release itself may not even be legitimate, writing it “may be indicative of a cybersecurity breach of their system”.

Dueñas clarified that lawmakers are not using unspent agency money to fund other government obligations, but are appropriating tax revenues collected above projections.

He said, “unspent agency funds can never be appropriated twice because they would first need to be de-appropriated in order to be spent, and excess revenue appropriations are never from unspent agency balances.”

Dueñas says those numbers are based on Consolidated Revenue and Expenditure Reports produced by BBMR and notes government budgets have grown after higher-than-expected collections in recent fiscal years allowing for prior-year revenues to be carried over.

Dueñas adding, “the governor has repeatedly flouted her ‘superior fiscal management’ as the basis for these repeated surpluses. It is incredibly unlikely that her office would suddenly seek to sabotage her legacy by suddenly informing the public that the fiscal reality was actually not balanced at all, that all of their fiscal notes relative to excess revenue appropriations were actually false, and that their own CRER was grossly inaccurate.”

He ended his response by encouraging Adelup to deliver on their mandated requirement to produce accurate, audited financials, so the people and government finances are not" victimized" by misinformation.

The dispute leads in to tonight's address by the governor where lawmakers, agency directors, and the people watching at home will be listening closely for how the administration sets up -- and justifies -- their remaining fiscal moves of their tenure.