House Appropriations Committee Chairperson and Nueva Ecija Representative Mikaela Suansing said that members of both Houses of Congress can scrutinize the reconciled, enrolled 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB)—hours after the Committee Report was signed Sunday afternoon.
“Volumes I, I-A, I-B, I-C and Volume II will all be released to the members (of both Houses of Congress). So they have the space and freedom to scrutinize the GAB as passed and ratified by the bicameral conference committee,” Suansing said.
“May panahon po sila… when we actually do ratify in both the House and the Senate to scrutinize items within the GAB.”
“May panahon po sila… when we actually do ratify in both the House and the Senate to scrutinize items within the GAB,” the veteran legislator added.
The House of Representatives and the Senate shall hold a plenary session to ratify the reconciled, enrolled GAB and the bicameral conference committee report.
Afterwards, the ratified 2026 GAB shall be transmitted to the President for approval.
“This is the first time in a long time that the full digital copy – the full digital print – of the GAB will be circulated to the members before the ratification.”
“This is the first time in a long time that the full digital copy – the full digital print – of the GAB will be circulated to the members before the ratification,” Suansing said.
Previously, only the bicameral conference committee report, with the summaries, wers provided to lawmakers.
The circulation of the full digital copy among lawmakers is the latest initiative undertaken to make budget deliberations more transparent.
The House took unprecedented steps to make the process more transparent beginning with the scrapping of the small committee, the formation of the Budget Amendment and Review Sub-Committee (BARSc) under the House Committee on Appropriations, and the livestreaming of the Bicameral Conference Committee deliberations.
Copies of the national budget, including the National Expenditure Program (NEP) that the Department of Budget and Management submitted to the House, House Bill (HB) 4058, and the Senate version of the GAB are also available online.
