There is nearly no doubt that Chris Christie is running for U.S. president in 2016 as the New Jersey governor launched his campaign website Saturday.
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Christie will be the 14th GOP candidate to make his declaration; he was once the frontrunner for the GOP nomination especially after sitting out the 2012 election cycle. The budget for the 2016 fiscal year that begins July 1 directs billions of dollars, according to Christie’s priorities, increasing spending in some areas and decreasing it in others.
TRANSPORTATION: Christie correctly pointed out that his budget allocates millions of dollars for transit and transportation in the state.
Under the legislation, the state would make payments on the first of the month in August, November, February and May of each year, generating $100 million in additional investment income next year, Gordon said. Democrats, who hold the majority, thanked Republicans for supporting the tax credit, which Christie has previously opposed.
But while Christie’s cuts may be easy to predict, the budget that the Legislature sent to him is more notable for what it omitted that what it included. “We don’t – and I’m not going to raise taxes on all the people in New Jersey to benefit 625,000 [pensioners] in a system that’s completely broken”.
Overall, the $35.3 billion state budget passed by Democrats for fiscal 2016 is $1.5 billion higher than the $33.8 billion plan offered by Christie. Democrats greeted it with skepticism and immediately a struggle over funding the state’s $80 billion public pension erupted.
He joins a field of more…
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, leaving meetings at the Capitol in Washington November 17.
In this June 19, 2015, photo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference in Philadelphia.
Christie has repeatedly vetoed tax increases in his state, and worked during his first term to cap spiraling property taxes.
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Mr. Christie’s vetoes to the Democrats’ budget plan were widely expected, though the proposed expansion of the so- called Earned Income Tax Credit for working families was unanticipated.
