TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey GOP Assemblyman Hal Wirths blasted Governor Phil Murphy after the administration raided $10 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds in order to pay illegal immigrants up to $4,000 per household.
“Still hungover from its unprecedented power grab during the pandemic, the Murphy administration made two transfers of over $10 million in April to the same fund in possible violation of state law included in fiscal year 2022 budget language,” Wirths said in a statement today. “The administration’s Office of Management and Budget has ignored Office of Legislative Services’ requests for an explanation on three occasions.”
“This obviously isn’t the first time that Murphy and his team have decided check and balances aren’t important,” said Assemblyman Hal Wirths (R-Sussex), the GOP budget officer. “If you give big government advocates an inch, I can guarantee they will take a mile and take their time to justify it. It’s incredible how power drunk Governor Murphy and his administration gets.”
On April 18, the Department of Community Affairs, led by Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, transferred $10 million from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund to the Excluded New Jerseyans Fund in the Department of Human Services. Another equal appropriation was made on April 29.
Fiscal year 2022 budget language says expenditures of CSFRF funds may not “exceed $10,000,000 for each such eligible program” without the approval of the Joint Budget Oversight Committee.