THE Senate will meet at 10 this morning at Gordon House to debate the 2016/17 Appropriation Bill.

The Appropriation Bill, a legislative motion authorising the Government to spend public funds, sets money aside for specific spending. Approval of the House of Representatives is required for the Government to spend money. However, while it is also debated in the Senate, the Senate cannot amend the Bill.

President of the Senate Tom Tavares-Finson told the

Jamaica Observer on Friday that the Government agreed to delay the debate until today because of the concerns raised by Opposition members about the timing, as the Bill was tabled during the sitting.

The budget was passed last Wednesday in the House of Representatives, and an effort is being made to have it approved before tomorrow.

Senator Tavares-Finson made use of provisions within the Standing Orders which allow for the debate to be delayed to next Tuesday, an unusual meeting day for the Senate.

This is not the first time, however, that the debate on the Appropriation Bill has been delayed. Notably, the debate was similarly postponed in the Senate in 2007, prior to that year’s general election, for similar reasons.