New Jersey Balances Budget on Backs of the Poor

Carl Chancellor, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has been writing about social justice issues for decades, is a columnist for Change.org.

According to the "This Month in New Jersey History" section of the official website of the Garden State, March is the month in which silent film star and New Jersey native Pearl White was born. For those who don't know, Ms. White starred in the wildly popular series of cliffhangers, The Perils of Pauline, that kept silent moviegoers on the edges of their seats nearly 100 years ago.

But the dangers faced by the celluloid heroine Pauline -- tied to railroad tracks with a steaming locomotive bearing down on her; set adrift in a canoe threatened by the raging fury of white water rapids; or pursued over a frozen landscape by a pack of hungry, snarling wolves -- pale in comparison to the real life perils facing New Jersey's poor thanks to the budget cuts proposed earlier this month by Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

Obviously, taking his cue from Snidely Whiplash, Gov. Christie, in order to close a nearly $11 billion gap in the New Jersey budget, has outlined massive spending cuts that disproportionally impact the state's poor and working class. As one Democratic state representative put it: the Governor's budget "is way too hard on the poor."

Gov. Christie was most certainly twisting the ends of a handlebar mustache and sneering when he decided to spend $820 million less on public schools; eliminate cash welfare for the able-bodied;  double some drug co-payments for the elderly and disabled enrolled in New Jersey's prescription drug plan; cut state-financed school breakfasts and rental assistance programs for the poor; and, trim the state's earned-income tax credit to 20 percent of the federal benefit (the first time a state has reduced its earned-income tax credit, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities).The reduction to the earned-income tax credit results in a tax increase for the working poor.

Even prior to unveiling his budget, Gov. Christie had already drastically tightened the eligibility requirements for the state's subsidized health insurance program aimed at helping uninsured adults with children. Previously, parents in a family of four could earn up to $77,000 and still qualify for a health insurance subsidy. Now, that same family can make no more than $29,000 a year -- 133 percent of the poverty level -- to qualify for insurance.

In addition, on March 31 nearly 12,000 legal immigrants who are not U.S. citizens are being kicked off the state's health insurance program all together.

Snidely, er, I mean the Governor has also promised to reduce weekly unemployment checks from a maximum weekly unemployment benefit of $600 to $550. He's also looking to slash state aid to food banks and has alerted hospitals that he will cut state reimbursements for treating the indigent in June.

Of course Gov. Christie isn't totally hardhearted. He has spared the state's wealthiest citizens, even going so far as reducing their tax burden. Christie has vowed to eliminate a higher income tax for families who make over $400,000 –– the so called "millionaire tax." Rolling back the tax will only cost New Jersey a mere $1 billion a year.

So let me get this right -- cut taxes for the rich while at the same time cutting funding for food banks? Makes perfect sense.

There isn't much suspense in Gov. Christie's budget, the storyline is clear: a lot of lower-income parents and their children, seniors on fixed incomes and the indigent are going to be facing some very, very hard times. Unfortunately, unlike in the old silent movies when the hero shows up in the nick of time to save Pauline, there won't be anyone riding to the rescue of New Jersey's poor.

Photo credit: Hoboken Condos