| Governor Christie has said many times that there just isn't enough money to pay for certain programs - like women's health funding for example. Whenever his decrees or policies that cater to the rich and well connected are challenged, his response is "we can't afford [X]".
Keeping that in mind, I'm interested to see what happens here, especially in light of the additional state revenues above projections: The state Senate has passed a bill to restore $7.45 million in funding for family planning centers that Gov. Chris Christie cut last year.
The legislation (S2899) seeks to take advantage of an unexpected state revenue boost estimated between $511 million and $913 million. Introduced last week and put on the fast track to passage, the bill cleared the Senate 26 to 13 - just one vote short of the two-thirds majority necessary to overturn a potential veto by Christie.
"We are in the second decade of the 21st century, and the fight over poor women's access to birth control I thought was finished," said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen).
Without looking at it in a vacuum and knowing that when Christie needs to find money, he manages to find it through other cuts to everyone but the rich and well connected, we see yet another contrast in Christie's prioirites like this pissing match with the Federal Government that is costing the state millions upon millions (not counting the close to $300 million it will cost ultimately): Gov. Chris Christie's fight with the federal government over abandoning a train tunnel under the Hudson has already cost New Jerseyans more than $1 million in legal fees and interest, records show.
For a month, Christie has been vowing to appeal a decision from the Obama administration ordering the state to repay $271 million for abruptly pulling out of what was the largest public works project in the country.
In the meantime, interest on New Jersey's debt is adding up at the rate of $225,000 a month. In addition, bills from Patton Boggs, the Washington law firm hired by Christie in December to fight his battle, have averaged another $300,000 a month, invoices obtained by The Star-Ledger show.
That's how you pay for restoring women's health funding, especially since the legal fees to be incurred, already incurred and the interest already incurred (even if that will stop accruing) will most certainly exceed this funding before long. |
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