DOHERTY: SPENDING CUTS MUST BE PART OF STATE’S ECONOMIC RECOVERY PROGRAM

Republican Assemblyman Michael Doherty, (Warren and Hunterdon) questioned the rationale exhibited at yesterday’s Assembly Appropriations Committee meeting at which several bills aimed at providing a stimulus to New Jersey’s economy were approved, while an amendment offered by Republicans that would cut state spending by nearly $70 million was rebuffed.    

“I am dumbfounded that some members of the committee do not think that a valid approach to address our fiscal crisis is to cut expenses,” stated Doherty, who is also a member of the Appropriations Committee.  “The state has a responsibility to taxpayers to keep its fiscal house in order.  The projected budget shortfall of $1.2 billion is an acute problem that requires pulling back on the spending oars of the state’s financial ark.  Steering our ship into the sea of increased spending is not the course we should be following. ”

Doherty was referring to comments by Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, who according to the Star-Ledger, stated at yesterday’s hearing that new spending is the only way the state can get its finances in order.  Greenwald further commented that “the surplus is there, and it’s called a rainy day fund.”

“If the hole in the state budget is as large as the State Treasurer anticipates, then how can people think there is a surplus,” queried Doherty.  “In a matter of months our budget will be shipwrecked, and our peril is further increased because we won’t face the reality that spending needs to be reduced to get through the storm.  It is public policy decisions such as these that have residents and businesses in this state abandoning ship.”

######