Senate Republican Leader Anthony M. Bucco (R-Morris, Passaic) and Senate Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) delivered remarks and answered questions from the press following Governor Sherrill’s budget address in the Assembly Chambers this evening.

The Republican leaders expressed disappointment by the Governor’s shift in tone, but remained hopeful that she’ll return to the fiscally responsible message that she delivered just two weeks ago.

“We recognize that the budget that is proposed is never the budget that is adopted, that’s part of the negotiation process between the Governor and the majority party in the Legislature; hopefully they’ll include us. But I can tell you there’s a few things in there that we’re already concerned about,” said Sen. Bucco. “We need real structural reform. Right now, taxpayers are going to lose their property tax deduction, so I’m concerned where this budget has come out. We have a long way to go, but the devil will be in the details.”  

“This budget is the largest in history. And there’s almost $2 billion more of taxes, and whatever you want to say ‘oh it’s all on businesses,’ I call BS on that—businesses don’t pay taxes, they pass all these taxes down onto everybody that buys their products and their services. This is not an affordability budget, yet,” said Sen. O’Scanlon. “I am encouraged by some of the things that we’re hearing. The emphasis on expedited permitting, especially for energy infrastructure. Reining in pork. I would stand up and applaud that, cause billions of dollars of random money to pet projects in coveted legislators districts is no way to run a railroad.”

View the full GOP response on the Senate Republican Facebook page.