Trenton Needs Ideological Diversity To Help With Looming “Pension Bomb”

For Immediate Release

Trenton, NJ – Over the weekend, The Star Ledger warned that New Jersey is facing what they describe as a $1.2 billion “Pension Bomb”.

The combination of a scheduled payment of the state’s first full recommended pension contribution and Governor Murphy’s reckless rush to lower the assumed rate of return of the system’s investments have created a year-over-year increase of more than $1.2 billion in what taxpayers must pay to keep the public pension system afloat.

NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt offered the following solution:

“The ‘Pension Bomb’ is real and the clock is ticking.  If pandering politicians like Governor Murphy don’t get honest and act now, it will explode.”

The Chairman added, that “while Governor Murphy is out to dinner on the State’s pension crisis, the check is coming due and we can’t pay for it.  The State’s Democrats are politically incapable of constructing a solution.  That’s why we need more Republicans at the table.  Ideological diversity isn’t a prerogative, it’s an imperative.”

“2019 is a chance for New Jersey voters to reject Phil Murphy’s failed fiscal policies and send common sense Republicans to Trenton.  Don’t waste it.  We need representatives at the State government table who are willing to work on structural reforms to the pension system and economic policies that will inspire growth and prosperity.  Democrats keep resorting to their broken-down playbook of short-cuts, one-shot deals and rigging of the system.  Don’t let them. We need honest answers to the State’s real problems.  We have them.  Give the NJGOP a chance to do better.  We can’t do worse.”