By Matt Rooney
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Help is indeed on the way with Joe Biden in the White House, Save Jerseyans. Not for you, or me, the families of 7,500 dead nursing home victims or the 1/3 of New Jersey small business owners who lost their life’s work in 2020. No, Save Jerseyans. This is an assist for Phil Murphy.
After months of New Jersey’s governor begging Washington for a bailout like a junkie desperate for just one more hit, the new president is taking steps today to enact his big COVID-19 “rescue” plan for America. He’ll sign executive orders which reports say include money for state and local officials.
“The plan does not lay out an estimated cost, but the administration proposed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package last week. The proposal, called the American Rescue Plan, includes $350 billion in state and local government aid, $170 billion for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education, $50 billion toward Covid testing and $20 billion toward a national vaccine program.”
That’s a lot of cheddar. There’s no indication yet what’s coming to New Jersey but you can bet Phil will get something. I’m sure it’s also only the beginning.
What you should know if you didn’t already: New Jersey received $2.4 billion in federal aid via the CARES Act but Murphy wants $20 billion. Why $20 billion? No one can say. Keep this in mind, too: there’s no evidence New Jersey NEEDS the cash. Murphy recently increased spending, not something you ordinarily do when you are allegedly billions short of what you need to keep your state going. He did it all while sitting on a small mountain of unspent CARES Act cash.
And then there’s this…
In Florida, we are putting #SeniorsFirst and seeing results. Nearly 65% of all of our vaccinations to date have gone to seniors 65+ — more than any other state in the nation. pic.twitter.com/EKRPSNpRO6
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 20, 2021
New Jersey has consistently ranked in the bottom half of states in terms of the percentage of received vaccine doses DISTRIBUTED.
Murphy is therefore anxious to assign the blame to someone other than himself.
“The big reason for the slow vaccine rollout in New Jersey “is the federal program with CVS and Walgreens,” Murphy said during a recent CNBC appearance. “They basically amassed these doses, they schedule visits to long-term care nursing homes, extended living, and they’re punching under their weight, particularly Walgreens, and that’s where most of the yet to be used doses are.”
Why isn’t Florida’s governor being undermined by CVS and Walgreens? Has anyone in the Media bothered to ask?
You get the joke, folks. The problem in New Jersey right now isn’t that we needed a president like Joe Biden willing to give Murphy the money he wants.
The problem is Phil Murphy. Period… full stop.
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