[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - Folks, we're now joined by State Senator Anthony Bucco, who is the Republican leader in the Senate in New Jersey.

Good to see you, Senator.

- Good to see you, Steve.

- You got it.

Hey, Senator, what's your beef with the governor's 2025 budget address?

What are you concerned about?

- Well, look, he painted a very rosy picture, that as governors are supposed to do.

- That's right.

- But I think, as in the Wizard of Oz, when you peek behind the curtain, you're gonna see a whole different type of budget and impact that that budget's gonna have on our residents.

We're now at a $.10 increase in the gas tax, right?

15% of fare hike for New Jersey transit, 3% year over year toll hikes on our roadways.

We've got the third worst unemployment rate in the nation.

And while he's spending more money for schools, there's 100 plus school districts that are actually gonna see a cut in aid.

One of the the school districts in my legislative district is gonna lose almost a million dollars - State funding going to a local school district in your Senate district.

- Correct, correct, yep.

- Do you think that's political or that's just the way the formula works?

The school, the state funding formula.

- It's a broken formula, Steve.

I mean, we know that.

I mean, and even some of the Democrats have now said the same thing, I mean, there's - Senator Ruiz we said the same thing on the other segment we did before we talked to you.

That's not a partisan thing.

It's a question of how people choose to deal with it.

Senator, can we do this?

Can we take these issues one by one?

- Sure.

THat'd be good.

- First one, you said that there's an increase in the gas tax of $.10.

Isn't it really $.02 over the next five years, which makes it $.10 cents, A, and B, Senator, isn't that increase in the sales tax, excuse me, in the gas tax, isn't that increase in the gas tax supposed to go to pay for the transportation trust fund so our roads and bridges are safe?

- You are absolutely correct, Steve, and I couldn't agree with you more.

The $.10 cents is over time.

Over five years, it'll increase to $.10.

But there was no reason to increase the gas tax.

The Republicans put forth a proposal that showed not only could we fund the transportation trust fund without raising the gas tax, but we could fund it for a longer period of time, from- - With what money?

You're talking about the surplus?

- We were gonna use a little bit of the surplus, state surplus.

We were gonna use a little bit of the debt defeasance fund that the governor has.

He's got a huge amount of money in the debt defeasance fund.

- What is that, Senator?

- The debt defeasance fund is a fund that they have to pay down debt over time.

And what we've seen this governor do is take the lowest interest rate debt and pay that down first.

And to us, that's a mistake.

And in fact, many financial analysts have said the same thing, that the state would save more money over time if you paid down some of the higher debt than some of the lower interest rate debt.

So what we're saying is, rather than increase the gas tax, let's take some of that, that would've been used to pay down the debt, and instead put it into the transportation trust fund so we can avoid having to put an additional financial burden onto the backs of our taxpayers.

- You also mentioned the increase in New Jersey Transit dealing with falling off the so-called fiscal cliff.

Serious financial problems with the state entity that manages our buses and our trains, the rails.

The governor has proposed a tax, an increased tax on corporations in the state whose profits are over $10 million in a year.

That we need that money to keep New Jersey Transit solvent.

A, B, there is an increase in fares.

The governor had an opportunity to veto the minutes of the meeting, if I'm not mistaken, of the board.

I'm getting complicated here, of the board of New Jersey Transit who voted for that increase.

He did not veto those, correct, Senator?

- That is correct.

But you remember during the campaign period, he did veto the increase.

So when we were- - Which is a coincidence, Senator, - You think so?

Well, listen, that's what they say.

- What do you think?

- Listen, I think that they all knew this was coming and they just didn't wanna do it- - Who's they?

- During an election season.

- Who's they, the democrats?

- The administration, the governor's office and my colleagues across the aisle.

They knew this was coming.

Republicans have been pointing to this issue for years now.

This isn't just the last year that we've been talking about this.

We've been talking about this for a few years now- - About New Jersey Transit and it's problems.

- About New Jersey Transit- - Financial as well as service problems, okay- - That's why I objected to their leasing of that new building at such an increase in release payments.

- You mean their new corporate headquarters?

- The new headquarters, correct.

- Okay, but what's... You could be critical of the fare increase, Senator.

You could be critical, and I know you are, of this tax that's being called for on corporations that make over $10 million a year.

And I know you're critical of it.

But what's the Republican, quote, "Solution" to the crisis at New Jersey Transit?

- Well, I'll tell you what, and it ties into the Transportation Trust Fund.

Part of our proposal for funding the Transportation Trust Fund without a tax increase was to put money into New Jersey Transit, both for capital and for operations.

More money than the administration had proposed.

And for the first two years, okay?

During that time period, we filed a separate bill as part of this transportation trust fund package, to do an independent audit of New Jersey Transit and find out what they're doing right, what they're doing wrong, and how we can make them more efficient.

Times have changed.

With people working from home now, there's not as much need for mass transit as there used to be.

So unless we can determine what the problems are at New Jersey Transit, we can't fix them.

And we can't just keep throwing money at New Jersey Transit and have a knee jerk reaction to just raise taxes to cover the problem.

Let's fix it once and for all.

- You talked about this in the past with us, but we've had a longstanding initiative, Reimagine Childcare, which is a public awareness initiative around the need for affordable, accessible childcare.

We've talked to all kinds of people about this, and I asked your colleague on the democratic side of the aisle, Senator Ruiz, who's been a leader in this area, same question.

But Reimagine Childcare is expanding into this new initiative called The First 1,000, First 1,000 Days NJ, dealing with important issues that affect children and their families.

Question, what would you say the most pressing issue for children and their families is right now in 2024 in the state of New Jersey?

- I think mental health.

I think coming off of COVID, I think there are still some children that were out of school for long during the shutdown that are dealing with issues that we've gotta be careful about.

Learning loss is also critical.

Both of those two issues kind of tied together, I think, because if kids aren't feeling comfortable in school, then that can lead to mental health issues.

So I think we really have to focus on those two areas.

I just had a bill passed at a committee that would allow service animals into grammar schools, because it's proven that if you bring an animal into that situation, a service animal dog, the kids, they just have a better reaction.

They feel better about the day.

And that leads to better test scores and better work ethic.

- You've never held back, you always... One of the reasons I like having you is you're straightforward, you say what you think, whether people agree or not, it's another story.

Real quick, on the Republican nominee for President Donald Trump who said there'll be a bloodbath if he loses, and that's not the worst of it, that's just a long line of nothing you would ever say, nothing I would ever say, nothing reasonable people would say if they wanna avoid political violence, the argument of the Trump campaign is, come on, he wasn't talking about what was January 6th.

Question, does the former President's rhetoric concern you?

- Yes, and words matter, right?

I do this all the time when our communications folks on the Senate Republican side send me something.

There are words sometimes that they use.

They don't do it intentionally, but when I read it, I don't like the way it sounds.

You can say it in a better fashion and still get the same point across.

I think people don't wanna hear the rhetoric.

They wanna know what the solution is.

And that the vision that's being caused in this country needs to stop.

I mean, it started a while ago and it's gotten progressively worse.

And I think it's incumbent upon us as elected officials to try to bring people together.

Because I say this all the time, there is more that unites us than divides us.

And we need to concentrate on what unites us and for the stuff that may divide us, and we may disagree on, we can do that, but in a civil fashion.

And that's what's critically important, I think now, not only in New Jersey, but across- - In the nation Without demonizing each other.

Senator Anthony Bucco, Senate Republican leader in the state of New Jersey.

Senator, thank you so much for joining us, we appreciate it.

- Thanks, Steve.

Always great to be here.

- I'm Steve Adubato that's Senator Bucco.

Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time.

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