Upon reports the Murphy administration is asking state agencies to cut proposed budgets by 5%, a pair of GOP gubernatorial candidates have attacked Trenton’s spending.
Politico reported Monday that senior state officials had asked agency heads for cuts and frozen “discretionary” raises for state employees. State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) and former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli each took Gov. Murphy and other Democrats to task for what they deem irresponsible spending.
In a release, Bramnick said he would institute a 2% spending cap to prevent “out of control budget growth,” and work to amend the state’s constitution to enshrine the cap.
“Every year since Governor Murphy took office I have warned that the out-of-control spending approved by the Democrat monopoly in Trenton was irresponsible and unsustainable,” Bramnick said in a release. “The internal e-mails circulating the administration, calling for five percent cuts in every department, proves just that.”
The state senator also pledged to create a citizen-run panel to find inefficiencies within the state’s government.
“As Governor I will immediately create a Government Efficiency Panel consisting of private citizens and business owners to comb through the bloated New Jersey government to find departments, programs and waste to eliminate,” Bramnick said. “We don’t need more audits or studies from professional consulting firms and insiders recycling the same tired ideas.”
Ciattarelli also took aim at Democratic leaders in a post on X. The Republican said Trenton Democrats are responsible for a 60% jump in the state budget over the past seven years and said a 5% cut isn’t enough.
“I will turn state government inside-out and with audits that identify waste and inefficiency — and deliver real taxpayer relief,” Ciattarelli said in a tweet.