SENATE GOP BUDGET MEMBERS BLAST DEMOCRATS FOR DEPLORABLE BUDGET PROCESS

June 27, 2025

Senate Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon (R-13), Senate Republican Whip Michael Testa (R-01), Senator Doug Steinhardt (R-23), and Senator Carmen Amato, Jr. (R-09) released the following statements regarding the deplorable budget process that leaves New Jerseyans in the dark on tax increases and wasteful spending.

"Our budget process is an absolute mess and frankly, a new Governor and a new approach to budgeting can’t come soon enough," said Sen. O’Scanlon. "After seven years of tax increases that have made New Jersey more unaffordable and hostile to job growth, we’re now staring down a $3 billion structural deficit, a public employee health benefits system in a financial death spiral, a school construction fund that’s completely broke, and an unworkable state-mandated housing law that’s burying local taxpayers. Combine that with the pathetic lack of transparency and skyrocketing spending and you have a recipe for disaster that we’re seeing play out in real time.”

“It should come as no surprise that Democrats are running out the clock so they can drop a bloated, pork-filled budget in the dead of the night,” said Sen. Testa. “This secretive, sloppy budget process is a disaster and it has been a mess for the last seven years. Democrats are again raising your taxes, hiking fees, unconstitutionally jacking up healthcare costs for public employees and school property taxes, and making the State’s structural deficit even worse than it already is. This behavior is not governance; it is a slap in the face to every New Jerseyan who is forced to foot the bill for the Democrats’ failed policies.”

“We’re days away from a potential government shutdown and Trenton Democrats are once again dragging their feet in the eleventh-hour of negotiations,” said Sen. Steinhardt. “Who knows if we’ll even get a draft of the budget before we vote on it, but we do know that Democrats have already endorsed multiple tax increases and will jam another massive tax-and-spend monstrosity down the throats of taxpayers in New Jersey. Trenton Democrats’ lack of solutions, transparency, and planning is making New Jersey less affordable and taxpayers deserve better.”

“The budget process in Trenton is broken and it’s hurting our schools, our towns, and our taxpayers,” said Sen. Amato. “Schools that have been underfunded for years finally had a chance at fair funding, only to see their aid increases arbitrarily capped. More than 100 districts saw their funding cut outright, again. On top of that, towns are still struggling with back-to-back $150 million municipal aid cuts, repeated in this year’s budget. The Legislature had the opportunity to fix this, but once again failed to stand up to the Governor. It’s clear we need new leadership and a new approach to budgeting that puts students and taxpayers first.”