Budget in under the wire

Good morning!

Trenton was Trentoning so hard yesterday.

The Legislature’s budget committees met late into the night to advance the budget at the last-minute, likely before many of them had actually read it.

The committees passed a budget that amounts to $60.7 billion, about where Gov. Mikie Sherrill wanted it to be, but then passed a separate spending bill that pushes overall spending above $61 billion.

Democrats who control the Legislature defended the last-minute approval, saying lawmakers have spent nearly four months hearing testimony on budget matters from scores of witnesses.

Anyone who doesn’t think the budget is developed in a transparent way is “not paying attention to the process,” said Sen. John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester).

Republicans feel otherwise.

“Nobody’s who’s going to vote for this thing tonight has read it. You see it — 15 minutes ago, I got 56 pages of line items and budget wording,” said Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), the chamber’s GOP budget officer.

Read more from Nikita Biryukov.

Commentary: ICYMI from Friday, I have some thoughts on the fiasco that is our state’s budget planning process: “What makes this year’s last-minute scramble to write a spending plan extra galling is the Legislature started 2026 with a fat pay raise they gave themselves. Most of their salaries jumped 67% from $49,000 to $82,000, but they still can’t take their most important task seriously.”

Health: Via Kelcie Moseley-Morris, “A spokesperson for U.S. Health and Human Services confirmed to Stateline on Friday that the agency is canceling 53 out of 67 grants, worth about $68 million, under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, affecting grantees in more than two dozen states.”