Jon Bramnick

Gov. Phil Murphy used his annual State of the State speech Monday to again slam the rioters who attacked the U.S Capitol last week and blame President Donald Trump — though not by name — for egging them on.

“We were all shocked to witness a mob, incited and supported by politicians at the highest levels of government, shamefully try to invalidate the votes of 158 million Americans through insurrection,” Murphy said.

A New Jersey law that would let the state borrow $9.9 billion to stave off the fiscal emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic is constitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The opinion will allow Gov. Phil Murphy to borrow billions of dollars to spend on recovering from the COVID-19 outbreak, which caused state tax revenues to nosedive and produced record-high unemployment in the state.

New Jersey lawmakers are expected to grill NJ Transit officials at a hearing at the Statehouse tomorrow after riders have faced repeated train cancelations and delays in the past few weeks. 

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick says Republicans intend to ask transit officials why customers didn’t get advance notice about cancellations.

“Where was the information for the commuters? Why weren’t they getting that information? Was it disorganization within New Jersey Transit? Was it simply they didn’t have the answers?”

The top Republican in New Jersey's Assembly wants to amend the state constitution to require that voting districts don’t favor a political party by more than 10 percent.

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick says the lack of competitive districts leaves too many voters without a meaningful choice.

New Jersey legislative leaders are pressing ahead with their own state budget plan even after Governor Phil Murphy said he’d veto it.

Murphy says the budget Democratic leaders are advancing is based on gimmicks.

“I will not sign any budget based on numbers that I do not believe are sound and sustainable. And as we have reviewed the legislature’s proposals, I do not believe theirs are.”  

Senate President Steve Sweeney says lawmakers have been open to compromise and won’t be bullied into doing what the governor wants.

The top Republican in the New Jersey Assembly is calling Governor Phil Murphy’s agenda extreme and scary and believes there will be a budget showdown.

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick says Murphy’s budget plan that ramps up spending by 8 percent and calls for $1.6 billion in tax increases is dangerous to the vitality of the state.

“He is totally disconnected not only with us as Republicans, I believe he’s totally disconnected with Democrats as well and surely disconnected with the taxpayers.”

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will unveil his first state budget plan in a speech to a joint session of the legislature tomorrow.

Republican lawmakers are urging Murphy to reverse his campaign promise and not propose a tax surcharge on millionaires.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean says increasing taxes would send a bad message to individuals and corporations.

“Any changes that Governor Murphy makes should focus on property tax relief. Any new investments or extra revenues should focus on property tax relief.”

Republicans in the New Jersey Assembly say they’re willing to work with Democrat Governor Phil Murphy, but they have concerns about the fiscal impact of his proposals.

Murphy has a progressive agenda that includes paying more to fund pensions and full funding for the school funding formula, universal pre-kindergarten programs, free county college tuition, and fixing New Jersey Transit.

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick says some of those proposals are good ideas, but believes they would cost 5-to-7 billion dollars.

The top Republican in New Jersey's Assembly worries his party will have less of an influence on state government policy if Democrats maintain control of the legislature and win the election for governor.

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick worries what might happen if Democrats hold the reins in both the legislative and executive branch.

Top Democratic and Republican lawmakers in New Jersey's Assembly are joining to call for civility and respect in politics.

Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick is urging those in leadership at every level of government to tone down the rhetoric.

"When public officials speak with disdain in their voice towards other public officials, that gives a license to the public to do the same, and even more."

Assembly Speaker Vinnie Prieto says politicians must work together to deal with the public's concerns.

A New Jersey lawmaker says the explanation of benefits that insurance companies send to patients contain message codes that are difficult for consumers to understand.

Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick says it's irritating to get pages and pages of confusing information about why a medical bill hasn't been paid.

"I think it can frustrate people to the point where they don't know what to do. They end up maybe they don't provide the documents that the insurance company needs because they can't quite figure out what they need."

The top Republican in New Jersey's Assembly is not running for governor.
 
Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick has long supported Governor Christie but says Christie's declining popularity was not a factor in deciding against entering the race to replace him.
 
"This has nothing to do with Governor Christie, whether he's popular now or popular after Sandy. This has to do with my own personal decision to stay as Republican leader."