Phil Murphy Quotes
I think New Jersey's process is actually a very good one - the good government. The governor presents the budget, you've got one-on-one meetings, you've got leadership meetings, you've got hearings, more importantly, that are transparent and open.
Murphy, Phil. Interview by Tom Bergeron. ROI-NJ, Return on Information NJ, 18 July 2018.
An unusual feature of the American governmental budgeting process is that Congress has passed a law limiting the amount of debt that the United States can maintain. When there is deficit financing, the law limiting the debt has to be changed periodically as the nation approaches the debt limit. Partisan politicians often take advantage of the fact that the debt limit must be passed and hold the passage hostage to obtaining something they want. The reality is that when Congress passed the previous budgets, they determined what the debt would have to be later. So they have already voted to exceed the budget ceiling. But the requirement of doing it in a second forum allows more pressure to be placed on the administration and the other party’s Congress members. While this process is ongoing, many people in the world are worried and often terrorized by the prospect of the debt ceiling not being passed, in which case the United States would have to default on its obligations—not pay interest, contractors, retirements, salaries, etc. Hence the admonition that the debt ceiling should never be a part of the budget negotiating process by most responsible statesmen and women. But the mist partisan of the politicians want to play politics with the debt ceiling precisely because the stakes are so high and they can get both headlines and leverage.
John Adams wrote the draft.
Philip Dunton Murphy is an American financier, diplomat and politician who has served as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. He succeeded Republican Chris Christie in the governorship. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously nominated to serve as the United States Ambassador to Germany from 2009 to 2013 by President Barack Obama.
