Trenton –Senate President Steve Sweeney issued the following statement today in response to Governor Murphy’s latest comments on his budget freeze:

“I am sorry, Governor, but your denials about how and why specific budget items were frozen just don’t hold water.  You spent weeks touting that the Legislature preserved 95 percent of your budget but then added pork.  With 80 percent of the freeze items coming from your own proposed budget, it appears that OMB determined that your budget was full of pork and the legislative additions were essential.

“If we are to believe your claim that OMB did not consult with you, what on the list should be unfrozen immediately?

“We need to know if there is such a difference in the severity of cancer cases that programs in North Jersey should be sustained while those in South Jersey are cut.

“Are the medical schools outside of South Jersey doing something so different that OMB feels risking the closure of the South Jersey medical school is somehow a benefit for New Jersey.  After seeing the list and how it impacts real people, have you asked your staff to fix these deliberate political acts?

“It is obvious that services and programs associated with those who have legitimate disagreements with you were targeted.  The facts and financial figures tell the truth. The fact that you instituted a freeze was overtly political to begin with. How did you simultaneously certify revenues and then decide the state would be short $235 million?

“Being the ‘adult in the room’ means accepting responsibility for your actions, and not acting like the child who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar.”