Politics

Government Shutdown Ends In New Jersey

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

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Juliegrace Brufke Capitol Hill Reporter
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The budget impasse in New Jersey finally came to an end in the early hours of Tuesday morning, effectively ending a three-day government shutdown and allowing beaches and state parks to open on Independence Day.

A deal was struck around 10 p.m. Monday after lawmakers spent the day hashing out details in closed-door meetings related to health care in the state, Politico reports.

GOP New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie largely put the blame of the shutdown on the Democratic majority in the state legislature.

“I’m saddened that it’s three days late, but I’ll sign the budget tonight,” Christie said.

State lawmakers and Christie announced the end of the shutdown in separate press conferences.

“It’s unfortunate that we had to get to this point,” Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto said in a joint press conference with Senate President Stephen Sweeney. “I wish we would have been able to do this before, but sometimes, you know, it gets to a point that when you’re in a crisis, then people are more willing to be more reasonable.”

Christie received sharp criticism after pictures emerged of him spending time with his family on a closed beach over the weekend, but the New Jersey Republican remained unfazed by the backlash.

“I don’t care about political optics. I care about right and wrong. If I have a choice to make between my family and political optics, I choose my family,” he said during a press conference Monday. “… We don’t get a lot of time to spend as a family together,” the governor said.

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