For every voter who is thinking that the GOP deserves their vote because the economy still has a ways to go to recovery, they just need to look at what Republicans do when they are in power. And Chris Christie has been elected just last year so it's not like the GOP can blame this on Bush or his ilk.
Behold the job-killing shortsightedness in all of its horror after the flip.
Governor of New Jersey Kills $8.7 Billion Train Tunnel:
The largest public transit project in the nation, a commuter train tunnel under the Hudson River connecting New Jersey to Manhattan, was halted on Thursday by Gov. Chris Christie because, he said, the state could not afford its share of the project’s rising cost.
Mr. Christie’s decision stunned other government officials and advocates of public transportation because work on the tunnel was under way and $3 billion of federal financing had already been arranged — more money than had been committed to any other transit project in America.
Yeah, basically it's taken 20 years to design and get the funding which includes over $3 billion from the fed government which now will go elsewhere. The only rail link from New Jersey to midtown Manhattan is a 2-track tunnel, built 100 years ago and is at capacity. Now hundreds of jobs will move elsewhere as there will no longer be capacity to bring any additional NJ commuters into midtown. And 6,000 anticipated construction jobs will now vanish.
Years of work by transit advocates, planners and collaboration between 2 states, a bi-state agency, and the federal govt has all been trashed because Chris Christie has a slavish devotion to cutting spending, even if that spending is not wasteful and will pay for itself in economic activity several times over.
This is how Republicans govern. Don't let anybody forget this.
Update: Jack K points out that Christie supported the tunnel on the campaign trail and Bush Bites recommends having a billboard on the highway that says:
"If Christie weren't governor, you'd be home by now."
and first time at the top of the rec list! Thanks everybody!!!
Update 2: The the Regional Plan Association, the perhaps most-respected nonpartisan planning organization in the New York Metro Area issued the following statement on Christie's idiocy:
RPA STATEMENT ON CANCELLATION OF ARC
(New York, NY) - Regional Plan Association, an independent planning organization representing the tri-state region, today released the following statement regarding the cancellation of the Access to the Region's Core project:
Governor Chris Christie today announced he would cancel the Access to the Region's Core tunnel project - the largest public transit project underway in the nation - citing potential cost overrun concerns.
The decision casts a dark shadow over the economic future of New Jersey. (emphasis mine) The State will lose out on an astonishing $6 billion matching contributions from the federal government and Port Authority. The tunnel would have opened New Jerseyans' access to Manhattan's lucrative job market, raised tax revenues for the state and local governments, boosted property values, provided a more reliable and faster commute to hundreds of thousands of NJ TRANSIT commuters and drivers, and saved on greenhouse gas emissions.