Oroho: Murphy’s Election-Year Budget About Protecting One Job, His Own

As Predicted, Governor Builds Massive Multi-Billion Dollar Budget Surplus to Go on Spending Spree While He Campaigns for Reelection

Senator Steven Oroho (R-24), the Senate Republican Budget Officer, said the State budget plan for FY 2022 outlined by Governor Phil Murphy today is focused solely on boosting the governor’s reelection campaign:

“Let’s be perfectly clear. Governor Murphy’s election-year budget is about protecting one job, his own.

“Senate Republicans have been warning since last June and July that the Murphy Administration was peddling a false doom-and-gloom financial picture despite clear evidence that New Jersey’s finances had rebounded quickly as lockdowns eased.

“Instead of heeding our calls last spring and summer to fund urgently needed relief programs, the governor chose to sit on a growing pile of cash while one-third of New Jersey’s small businesses closed and nonprofits and families struggled.

“Today, Governor Murphy is doing exactly what we said he would do when the current budget, with its low-ball revenue projections, was under consideration last fall. He revealed a massive multi-billion dollar surplus, as predicted, that he’ll start spending this summer as he kicks off his reelection campaign.

“It’s further proof that there was absolutely no need for the Murphy Administration to borrow $4.3 billion last November, debt that we warned was unnecessary months earlier.

“Don’t buy his claim that there are no tax hikes in the budget. Payroll taxes are going up this year, which will hit the paychecks of employees and employers who are already struggling.

“His proposed budget would spend down billions in surplus, which won’t be sustainable beyond a single year. If Governor Murphy is reelected, it’s an absolute certainty he’ll call for tax increases next year to keep his spending spree going.”