Tuesday, December 22, 2009

New Jersey’s Senators and our Governor: AWOL on Healthcare $ for our State

While nearly a dozen Democratic senators were busy keeping the U.S. Senate hostage by withholding their votes on the massive healthcare bill in order to obtain special concessions for their states, our two New Jersey senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg have been conspicuously absent from the debate.

New Jersey is one of the most populous and heavily taxed states of the country, and it disgorges one of the greatest outflows of cash into the national treasury. Yet, we are represented by two of the meekest dealmakers in the U.S. Congress.

Moreover, our governor, Jon Corzine, made a mid-course correction to support Barack Obama’s presidential campaign by dumping his endorsement of Hillary Clinton. Corzine moved close to Obama and was one of his preferred economic advisors during the campaign.

So where’s the beef for New Jersey? States like Louisiana, Nebraska, Connecticut and others are, through the personal influence of their senators, getting hundreds of millions in special healthcare dollars, concessions, and tax breaks for their states.

Meanwhile Senators Menendez and Lautenberg are busy playing Mr. Nice Guy with Barack Obama and Harry Reid in Washington, D.C., as New Jersey comes out of this legislation empty-handed and more heavily burdened.

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