N.J. Democrats block another GOP floor push to restrict Murphy’s powers

Another exclusively-Republican effort to end Governor Murphy’s dictatorship hit a dead end on Thursday.

“This is not what the American people think happens,” Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-25) argued from the floor of the Assembly. “They think we bring bills up. We discuss them. We debate them. And we make them the best they could possibly be and then we vote on them. And they are either made into law or not. What they don’t know is sometimes bills like this never get the opportunity to be heard.”

S2482/A4147 would provide that “any order, rule, or regulation issued by the Governor pursuant to P.L.1942, c.251 (C.App.A:9-33 et seq.) shall terminate on the 15th day after issuance, unless approved for a greater period by the Legislature pursuant to concurrent resolution.”

In other words, the legislature would need to sign off after two weeks or the pandemic-related executive order would automatically sunset.

Democrats in both chambers have tabled the measure multiple times, blocked Thursday’s GOP attempt to force a review of Murphy’s powers, and there’s no sign of positive movement anytime soon (like we’ve seen in New York) despite Senate President Sweeney passively stating on Thursday that his caucus “would like to not continue these executive actions.” Sweeney – who fought constantly with Murphy pre-Covid – also praised the Democrat governor’s actions in the same breath.

Murphy has now extended his own powers 13 times over the past year.

At least 8,000 long-term care residents have expired since the statewide lockdown was initiated last March along with one-third of the state’s small businesses.

Matt Rooney
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MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.