O’SCANLON/CASAGRANDE: HOW CAN TRENTON DEMOCRATS IGNORE FISCAL REFORM ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA?

PRESIDENT CALLS FOR FEDERAL PAY-AS-YOU-GO LEGISLATION THAT HAS BEEN SHUNNED BY GOVERNOR CORZINE AND DEMOCRATS IN TRENTON

    President Barack Obama’s support of federal pay-as-you-go laws, which would require legislators to identify revenue sources when proposing new spending, should spur Governor Corzine and Democratic legislative leaders in Trenton to support a measure imposing similar rules on the New Jersey Legislature, Assembly members Declan O’Scanlon and Caroline Casagrande, both R-Monmouth and Mercer, said today.

    “I’m glad that President Obama agrees with the concept that government budgets should be funded by pay-as-you-go concepts, not on credit,” said O’Scanlon, who champions a similar measure for New Jersey. “We will never solve our state’s problems unless we force restraint upon legislators - who have been unable to police themselves - to stop borrowing and spending without considering what the state and its taxpayers can afford.”

    O’Scanlon introduced in March AR-188, which would require the Legislature to identify an existing, or new, revenue source to pay for any proposal that impacts the state budget. If a new tax were proposed, approval from two-thirds of the General Assembly would be required for passage.

    “How can Governor Corzine and the Democrats who control the Legislature continue to recklessly mortgage the state’s future when the president has now condemned the practice?” said Casagrande, another prime sponsor of the measure. “It’s just unfortunate that the president could not have gotten Vice President Biden to preach this concept to the governor when he was in New Jersey last week, instead of prompting yet another deal with state worker unions that didn’t factor future costs.”

    Added O’Scanlon: “For a very long time now, we’ve been spending as if there is no tomorrow. I don’t want to send my children the message: ‘We got ours, now you’re on your own.’ It’s time to do the responsible thing. It’s time for a little foresight. It’s time to plan ahead, rather than continue to fall behind.”

    In addition to O’Scanlon and Casagrande, the measure includes Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce as a prime sponsor and 11 other Assembly Republicans as co-sponsors.