On the final voting session before the end of the fiscal year, lawmakers in Trenton approved a $56.6 billion state budget after down-to-the-wire negotiations this week.
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) praised the spending plan for keeping fiscal promises made by the governor and majority-party Democrats.
Republicans called the spending plan irresponsible for dipping into the state surplus and containing more than $600 million in so-called Christmas tree items, last-minute spending on projects and organizations favored by lawmakers.
“A great deal of energy, effort go into getting the budget process done,” Coughlin said. “We have to make sure that everything is right. It has to be checked and double-checked, and agreements take as long as agreements take.”
“What this budget does is do the things that we have committed to the people of New Jersey that we are going to do,” added Coughlin.
