REBEL MEDIA: Christie looking toward 2016?
3 months, 2 weeks ago by Bob Gough
A Republican governor proposing a minimum wage hike?
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a Democratic bill to raise the minimum wage and instead proposed hiking it by $1 an hour over the next three years.
On the last day he could take action on the minimum wage bill, Christie said the state economy was too weak to handle the Democrats' proposed $1.25 increase, a 17 percent jump, all at once. He also rejected a provision in the bill that would have mandated automatic yearly increases in the minimum wage.
Instead, the governor suggested adding more funding to the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is targeted at the working poor. Christie slashed funding for that program but said he would restore what he cut if the Legislature agrees to the changes he's making in the minimum wage bill.
"The sudden, significant minimum-wage increase in this bill, coupled with automatic raises each year tied to the Unites States consumer price index, will jeopardize the economic recovery we all seek," Christie said in his conditional veto of the bill (A2162).
Okay, so it is a compromise from the Democrats plan to raise the wage all at once by $1.25 an hour. New Jersey's minimum wage is $7.25, which is also the federal minimum, but it is also the last thing people wouldn't expect to hear from a pro-business candidate for any office.
Is this a move to the middle? Many conservatives had already bailed on Christie during Hurricane Sandy as they saw him being too chummy with the president at a time when he was trying to get aid for his state.
It's tough to see Christie winning a GOP presidential primary at this stage, but a lot can change in a couple of years.
Updated 30 min ago