Testa Says Democrats Trying to Blame OLS for Their Budget Mess

Senator Michael Testa (R-1), a member of the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement:

Last night, our Republican Budget Committee members were asked by Democrats to vote on a totally inaccurate and unreliable advisory summary of the budget known as a “score sheet.” It was not the actual budget. When a budget bill was finally produced just before midnight after the Budget Committee had already voted, the numbers didn’t match the score sheet we were given. What legislators voted on last night over Republican objections was a misleading document that was more than $1 billion off from the budget bill that was later produced.

The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services (OLS) is statutorily bound by confidentiality, so they can’t defend themselves from certain Democrat leaders who have been blaming them to the press for last night’s debacle.

We know that OLS worked tirelessly around the clock for days to produce score sheets, the budget itself, and other related documents that are relied on by the public, press, and legislators to understand state spending. They were put in an impossible position by Democrats who kept making substantive spending changes throughout the day and night, including the addition of hundreds of new line items of pork.

Despite Democrats telling the public that the budget was done days ago and blaming yesterday’s delays and mistakes in the budget and score sheets on the hard-working staff at OLS, everyone paying attention knows the truth.

The blame for the last-minute rush, the inaccurate score sheet, and the lack of an actual budget bill that anyone could review at time the bill was approved late last night lies squarely at the feet of Democrat leaders.

They want to hide their own feeding frenzy of pork that lasted almost until midnight when the budget had to be adopted to prevent a government shutdown. This is cowardly and belies the Democrats’ disdain for the public, press, the legislative process, and transparency.

It’s disappointing that Democrats are willing to throw the people who worked the hardest for them under the bus to deflect blame for their own failures. We know who’s really to blame.

Yesterday was a total mess because of the Democrat leaders who couldn’t stop their feeding frenzy at the budget trough. New Jersey deserves better.