An attitude of status quo

Governor Chris Christie came charging into Trenton pledging to turn it upside down in 2010. He made a left turn onto the Boulevard of Compromise in 2011, cruised the boulevard through 2012 and rode the waves of Sandy through 2013.   Now he’s hit a dead end on the bridgegate to nowhere.

The message of the FY 2015 Budget Address is ‘No Change.”   Christie warned of the looming crisis we sent him to Trenton to fix and offered no solutions. No reductions in government.  An increase in spending. Christie lamented that he couldn’t spend more because of commitments made to people who are no longer working and to repay money that has already been spent.

Christie meekly suggested that more pension and benefit reforms are necessary in order to grow the state government. State Senate President Steve Sweeney said, “We’re not doing it.”

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Governor Chris Christie’s FY 2015 Budget Address As Prepared For Delivery

Lt. Governor Guadagno, Speaker Prieto, President Sweeney, members of the Legislature, fellow New Jerseyans:

I am pleased to present to you my Budget for Fiscal Year 2015.

This is the fifth time I have come before this Legislature to deliver a budget message.

It is one of the most important obligations of any governor.

Today, I present to you a budget that is balanced, and, for the fifth year in a row, requires no new taxes on the people of New Jersey.

Total spending in this budget for the next fiscal year is $34.5 billion, with a responsible surplus of over $300 million.

Here is more important news.

This budget, when you take out pension and health care costs and debt service, is $2.2 billion smaller than Fiscal Year 2008.

Over the last five years we have cut discretionary spending by $2.2 billion.

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Governor Christie’s 2015 Budget Address

Governor Chris Christie will deliver his annual budget address to the legislature at 2pm this afternoon.  The address can be viewed via livestream provided by NJTV here:

“A Choice of Attitude” is the theme of Governor Chris Christie’s FY 2015 budget address.

Christie will argue that state government spending as proposed in his budget is $2.2 billion lower than the fiscal 2008 state budget, save for the $2.25 billion pension payment budget for this year.   He will call further pension reforms, arguing that the massive obligation to state employees prevents the government from spending on education, university research, energy, the environment and infrastructure.  He will argue that pensions and entitlements must be reformed in order to prevent a looming crisis.

Christie says new taxes are not an option.

Excerpts of Christie’s address as released by the Governor’s office is below:

A 5^th Balanced Budget Without Raising Taxes That Makes The Largest Pension Payment Ever

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