Christie Vetoes Bills to Fund NJ Pension

New Jersey Democrats trying to undo damage done to the state's public-employees' pension system met a familiar roadblock, Gov. Chris Christie wielding a veto pen.

Christie vetoed two bills that would have injected new money into the system and improved future funding. One bill called for a special one-time $300 million payment; the other mandated quarterly payments into the system. The state of New Jersey has not made a full pension payment since 1995. To make matters worse, Christie cut nearly $900 million from the budgeted state pension payment last year when he faced a $1 billion budget deficit.

"Even when the State has the money – or when it wouldn't cost a penny – Gov. Christie acts to deliberately harm the pension systems that 1 in 10 New Jerseyans depend upon," CWA New Jersey Director Hetty Rosenstein said.

Christie had signed a 2011 law requiring the state to do its part in restoring proper funding for the pension system, after forcing pension cuts for workers. But Christie reneged on the deal and in fact has vetoed more than $ 3 billion in pension payments from the budget in the past two years.