Connors, Rumpf & Gove Vote Against Murphy-Democrat $50 Billion State Budget

9th District Delegation: Budget Goes Big on Spending, Small on Tax Relief

Senator Christopher Connors, Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, and Assemblywoman DiAnne Gove voted “NO” on the FY2023 State Budget which was approved on Wednesday by the New Jersey Legislature. They said legislators and the public were denied sufficient time to review the state’s massive $50 billion spending plan, which was released late Monday night by Democrats.

This year, Assemblyman Rumpf joined the Assembly Budget Committee and consistently testified in favor of limited government as a sustainable means of providing immediate tax relief and funding the state’s core obligations.

The 9^th District delegation issued the following statement:

“The State Budget is divorced from reality in that it does not provide the tax relief desperately needed by taxpaying seniors and families in the state who are struggling financially as inflation has compounded the already high cost of living in New Jersey.

“Rather than take the historic opportunity to provide substantial tax relief using federal relief funds, the Budget recklessly increases state spending to an obscene and unstainable level, even by New Jersey standards.  As a consequence, taxpayers will pay a high price both now and in the years to come.

“Yes, there are provisions of the Budget which are supportable and will return money to taxpayers in a limited and targeted degree.  Yet when you examine the numbers, taxpayers are definitely on the losing side as special interests, pet projects, and political ideology took center stage in the end.

“The line became even clearer between those in Trenton who are committed to reducing taxes through limited government and extremists who see government expansion, including intensified bureaucratic regulation, as the answer to every issue regardless of the cost to those who can least afford it.

“How can you support increasing government spending when people are having trouble paying for gas, putting food on the table, and paying already high property taxes?  This reality is evidently lost on proponents of the Budget who put politics before people and, unfortunately, control both the legislative agenda and the Governor’s Office.

“Depending on how the economy performs moving forward, this Budget very likely could prove a breaking point for both taxpayers and the state bureaucracy that’s built to collapse under its own weight as most taxpayers have already reached their limit.”