Legislative Leaders Lament Missed Opportunities In Light of Latest Jobless Numbers
Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver today pointed to the latest jobless numbers from the NJ Department of Labor as further evidence of the shortsightedness of Governor Christie’s recent decision to veto a package of Democratically-led bills to stimulate the economy.
Today’s news that New Jersey’s unemployment rate remains at 9.1 percent, and 13,000 jobs were lost in January, only adds to the sting of the recent Republican flip-flops in the legislature as Democrats attempted to override the Governor’s vetoes.
“Governor Christie needs to realize that the only way we are going to get New Jersey’s economy moving again is by working together. He had a chance to put job creation and economic growth front and center by signing the ‘Back to Work NJ’ legislation. Instead, he vetoed them. That kind of action won’t do a thing to change the fact that New Jersey is ranked 48th in business climate, continues to hemorrhage jobs and is moving nowhere on the economy. Time to put politics aside and get New Jerseyans working again,” said Senate President Sweeney.
“With the sustained levels of high unemployment we are seeing, one would think that the Governor and our Republican colleagues in the Legislature would be placing more of an emphasis on job creation and economic stimulation. The Governor’s recent veto of many of our jobs bills, while New Jerseyans continue to struggle, shows an unwillingness to work with Democrats to incorporate these worthwhile proposals into his budget. For the unemployed people of our state, I’m all the more saddened that Republicans did an about face and fell in line with the Governor instead of sticking to their original principles when they voted for these bills the first time around,” said Speaker Oliver (D-Essex).