Posted on 01/23/2011 2:58:18 AM PST by Scanian
Sen. Chuck Schumer last week lit into New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for pulling the plug on that $8.7 billion trans-Hudson rail tunnel.
“A terrible, terrible decision,” Schumer told a Crain’s breakfast.
Schumer being Schumer, of course, he sees in Christie’s decision the coming of a national apocalypse — a “turning point,” he said, that historians will one day look back on as the day when we “stopped looking toward the future.”
Hyperbole, thy name is Chuck Schumer.
Fortunately, Chris Christie is not one to be intimidated, even by so formidable a presence as Chuck Schumer’s — and, even more fortunately, he can give as good as he gets.
Back when the governor called a halt to the project, he cited the fact that its cost had already swelled to $11 billion and counting — with his state on the hook for $2.7 billion, plus 50% of any cost overruns.
That would hike Jersey’s liability to more than $5 billion — money the troubled Garden State simply doesn’t have.
In response to Schumer, Christie noted the difference between a governor and a senator. “Their job is easy,” he said of lawmakers like Schumer. “They get to sit in front of microphones and bloviate. I’ve got to balance budgets.”
Asking where the money would come from, Christie added: “If [Schumer] wants to offer me $5 billion, then maybe we can have a conversation.
“Until then,” said the governor, “he should mind his manners on the other side of the Hudson River.”
Ouch — but point very well taken.
Senators — especially Democratic senators — love to go on about huge projects and the jobs they’d create.
But when it comes to explaining how to pay for them, they grow silent.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Stop with the stupid weight comments. Second, subsidies are the responsibility of congress, not the governor.
If you don't want to pay for it, ensure your congressman votes properly.
Christie is doing his constitutional duty by looking out for his state's budget. Looking out for the federal budget is not within his authority.
I don't think Christie is a total conservative, but he is governing in a fiscally conservative manner that you cannot deny.
Yes, you have every right to be an obnoxious conservative.
I would have paid good money to see that smarmy SOB Schumer face when he heard that
The plight of upstate Legislators must make a priority of removing roadblocks to growth
New York wants it’s own big dig, let them finance it themselves.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS NO MONEY. IT’S OUR MONEY, TAXPAYER DOLLARS.
And those responsible for prudent use of our money at the federal level is our congressmen, not our governors.
Civics 101
I know Christie might not be conservative “enough” - but hot dam#! I love this guy! LOL.
What is also at work here is a tingly feeling for Christie, no matter what he does or says.
plus it killed a woman didn’t it?
Not Teddy (I mean - he did too)
But didn’t part of the “new” construction collapse on some poor lady?
Hey, Shumer got bitch slapped. It belongs in the girls' soccer section. Besides, I found out that Archbishop Molloy now admits girls. I guess after West Point fell, the Stanners were next.
“So Christie is saying it’s ok if the feds (schumer) give NJ the $5 billion for the project then he will talk...”
He didn’t say what side he would take (but I agree he might just take the pork side). In any case, if the feds came here to Texas and offered us something like $5B to build a Hoover Dam type project (i.e., a very expensive project that once completed pays for itself in 10 years, and then pays dividends for eternity) - I’d talk about it too.
...of course something like that would be TOTALLY against Democrat principles these days.
Yes it did. And true to form, the company that installed it was held liable even though they kept telling the idiots that spec’ed the job that they are using the wrong stuff. The State and Brecktl knew better. The big PIG, as it’s commonly referred to, was a great idea on paper, but in reality a financial disaster. I’m paying for it though I very rarely use it. Christie is playing it right. (BTW, it still leaks!)
H
Don’s sweat it, you have EVERY RIGHT to point out the semi-hypocrisy on Christie taking the pork if it meets his terms (semi because he did say which side he would then come down on). It was a clever observation that most people would miss. The new governor of Wisconsin has been given the same temptation (for a new train) and told the feds to shove it...even though the feds would pay for practically all of it.
It is an important distinction in styles - and people do need to understand Christie, especially when some people (albeit less, lately, thanks to some of his moves) call for him to run for prez.
Gov. Chris Christie never ran as a conservative, and never said he was a conservative. That said, I don’t think he is a conservative except when it comes to fiscal policy ONLY. In that, he definitely has his head screwed on right. I only hope Jerry Brown has been taking notes from Christie on how to deal with recalcitrant public employee and teacher unions.
I think the concrete ceiling of a tunnel fell on the woman’s car, and it Killed her. It weighed about 6 tons and was held up by concrete inserts which were put in the wrong way. Never load up that much weight with epoxy glue ?????
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