Senate Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon has criticized Trenton Democrats for prioritizing over $1 billion in spending on projects over the past two years, while neglecting reforms to the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP). According to O’Scanlon, the SHBP is now entering a severe crisis.
“For years, we’ve warned that the SHBP was heading for collapse,” said Sen. O’Scanlon. “We identified the unsustainable premium hikes, the declining enrollment, and the glaring lack of structural reform, but instead of addressing the crisis, Democrats spent over a billion dollars the past two years on pork projects. Democrats chose tiki bars, skating rinks, lacrosse clubs, dominoes clubs, sports stadiums, and artificial turf rugby and cricket fields over our hard-working public employees.”
O’Scanlon noted that he and his Republican colleagues on the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee have repeatedly called for more transparency and public vetting of cost-saving ideas but were ignored by both the Treasury Department and Democratic leadership.
“We laid out responsible, effective solutions. We asked for hearings. We demanded answers. Treasury shut us out. Trenton Democrats shut us down. Now the system is buckling under its own weight, and the very same people who neglected the problem are scrambling to cover their tracks. New Jersey needs leadership who won’t ignore problems until they explode. We need structural reform and fiscal discipline. As I said before, a new governor can’t come soon enough. Only then will serious, responsible solutions finally be on the table,” O’Scanlon concluded.
