Republicans in the State Senate are warning that due to the federal debt ceiling crisis, aid promised during the pandemic may be pulled back—and say it is Gov. Phil Murphy’s fault.
GOP lawmakers in Washington have pushed to clawback or cancel up to $70 billion of federal stimulus as part of negotiations with President Joe Biden to raise the debt ceiling and reduce the federal deficit.
Despite their party pushing for the reduction, Republican members of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee are blaming Murphy for mismanagement of federal COVID block grant funding that would lead to the rescinding of idle federal stimulus funds.
GOP View
“Gov. Murphy and Trenton Democrats have abused billions of taxpayer dollars and the federal government wants it back.” said State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-13). “For two years, the Murphy administration has let billions of dollars wither away in idle accounts while struggling homeowners and businesses were decimated by inflation.”
“We should be putting this money to good use to help businesses and taxpayers, but Democrats have consistently rejected sensible Republican proposals to put money into the hands of those who need it most,” continued O’Scanlon, the lead GOP legislator on the State Senate’s budget committee. “Gov. Murphy’s abdication of allocating funds is a slap in the face to New Jersey taxpayers.”
Debt Ceiling Debate
The Republicans have called for spending cuts as a condition for any debt-ceiling increase and want to cap spending in future years. Democrats for months declined to negotiate, saying the debt ceiling should be raised with no strings attached, but engaged in talks last week as the deadline approached.
President Biden cut short a visit to Asia in efforts to make progress on talks. Talks between the White House and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) are focused on setting a top-line spending level for the next year and deciding how long to lift the debt ceiling until having to raise it again. The two sides are aiming to reach a deal by June 1, when the Treasury Department estimates the U.S. could run out of money to pay all of its bills, leading to a first-ever default.
The President has offered to narrow the deficit with some tax increases to wealthy Americans and possible clawbacks for COVID funding, but McCarthy said tax increases are off the table. Democrats have accused Republicans of seeking draconian spending cuts that they said would hurt a wide range of governmental programs—education, benefits for veterans, healthcare, childcare and seniors. Over the weekend, Biden said that House Republicans have taken extreme positions and that their current proposal is unacceptable, while McCarthy characterized the discussions as still far apart.
Federal Clawback
But State Senate Republicans took the recent developments in the debt ceiling negotiations to relitigate how the Murphy Administration has used the federal funding tied to the pandemic.
“Fiscal concerns stemming from the pandemic could have been alleviated with the remaining five billion dollars that Gov. Murphy has refused to disburse,” said State Senate Minority Leader Steve Oroho (R-24). “Gov. Murphy’s executive orders severely constrained small businesses forcing many of them to close, leading families to fall behind during the pandemic.”
GOP lawmakers argued besides allowing billions of dollars to go unused while inflation destroyed its value, Murphy wasted money on items that were not related to COVID or economic development as well helping local municipalities dealing cuts and inflationary issues wrecking their budgets.
Murphy’s Misstep
“It’s disturbing that the Murphy administration neglected working families, businesses, and even school children by cutting education funding to prioritize…buying himself and his cabinet new SUVs,” said State Sen. Michael Testa (R-1)
Oroho said Republicans have made countless efforts to reach what they believe are responsible solutions, but the Murphy Administration showed no urgency to provide any legitimate long-term assistance.
“If these funds are clawed back by President Biden and the federal government, the fault will land squarely on the Murphy Administration,” said Oroho.
Oh, please! Repubs were perfectly OK and didn’t call Trump to task for taking four months to deal with covid in beginning.
Since Republicans want to have their cake and eat it too, perhaps they should feast on Minnie’s pie with the “secret ingredient” in “The Help.”