Christie Rips Democratic Lawmakers Over Pension Lawsuit
CEDAR GROVE, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Gov. Chris Christie is accusing Democratic lawmakers of "essentially suing themselves" for getting involved in a lawsuit over pension payments.
Christie blasted the Democrat-controlled Legislature on Thursday over its decision to file a brief asking the Supreme Court to side with the public sector unions suing his administration over a decision to scale back promised payments into the state workers' pension system.
They want the Republican governor to pay the full amount agreed to in a 2011 deal.
Christie Rips Democratic Lawmakers Over Pension Lawsuit
But Christie, a possible presidential candidate in 2016, said lawmakers are on the hook for short-changing the pension payment by about $1.6 billion by passing the budget, which included a payment of $650 million to $700 million, WBCS 880's Levon Putney reported.
"And I signed it with that number in it," Christie said at a town hall meeting in Cedar Grove. "They're now suing to force the court to force them to do what they didn't do."
The governor said there simply isn't enough money in the budget to cover the higher costs.
Calls to Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto seeking comment were not immediately returned.
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