Senate Republican Budget Committee Members Pan Murphy’s Wasteful, Tax-Raising, Bait & Switch Spending Plan

The Republican members of the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee panned Governor Phil Murphy’s wasteful, tax-raising, bait and switch spending plan prior to a committee vote on the proposal:

Senate Republican Budget Officer Steven Oroho (R-24):

“During this unique crisis that has caused so much pain for our families and economy, New Jersey deserved for its leaders to work together in a transparent, collaborative, and bipartisan process that welcomed public input into how we could help the state recover through this budget,” said Oroho. “Instead, we had a superficial hearing process that didn’t even have an outline of a budget to review, the public was excluded, and the details were negotiated in a private, partisan manner that could not have been more opaque. It’s disappointing that backroom Trenton politics has won out once again.”

Senator Michael Testa (R-1):

“For all of the Governor’s talk about rebates, there’s not a single penny in the budget proposed by Democrats to fund the checks that taxpayers have been promised in exchange for tax increases,” said Testa. “The taxes will be implemented this year, but the rebates won’t be. In fact, all taxpayers are getting is a hazy promise that the rebates might be funded in the next budget in the summer of 2021. It’s a classic bait and switch that Governor Murphy is pulling on New Jerseyans to raise taxes.”

Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-13):

“Governor Murphy’s proposed business and income tax increases will put unbearable pressure on small- and mid-size employers who are already struggling to survive,” said O’Scanlon. “The same people who are trying to figure out how to keep their doors open and their staff on payroll are being told by Democrats that they’re not doing enough to help New Jersey. It’s ludicrous. If Democrats truly care about helping middle-class families, they shouldn’t kick employers while they’re down and risk sending more workers into the Murphy Administration’s unemployment abyss.”

Senator Sam Thompson (R-12):

“After being told our budget situation was so dire that we had to raise taxes and borrow billions of dollars, there sure is a lot of pork in Governor Murphy’s spending plan,” said Thompson. “When the New Jersey Supreme Court bought into the governor’s argument that the State couldn’t survive unless the administration was authorized to borrow up to $10 billion, I don’t think they envisioned doling out $5 million to subsidize a golf course in Essex as critical spending. Exactly as we predicted, that’s the kind of wasteful pork that has magically appeared in the budget now that the governor has a blank check to borrow at taxpayers’ expense.”