Issue Brief 

The Spending Proposed by New Jersey's Congressional Delegation

June 13, 2013

The table below shows the latest BillTally findings on the New Jersey delegation from National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s analysis of the 112th Congress. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the net cost of all of the spending and savings bills sponsored or cosponsored by each Member of Congress. We cross-index our database of cost estimates with each bill supported by each Member to calculate their net spending agenda (excluding overlapping/duplicate measures).

Net Cost of Legislation Sponsored and Cosponsored by New Jersey’s
Congressional Delegation in the 112th Congress (Dollar Figures in Millions)

Name
Party
Increases
Decreases
Net
Spending
Agenda
# of
Increases
# of
Decreases

Lautenberg, Frank

D

$189,707

($118)

$189,589

87

6

Menendez, Robert

D

$43,010

($130)

$42,880

85

4

       

Andrews, Robert

D

$196,735

($12,057)

$184,678

63

3

Frelinghuysen, Rodney

R

$337

($54,704)

($54,367)

12

7

Garrett, Scott

R

$15,229

($270,466)

($255,237)

15

29

Holt, Rush

D

$1,385,317

($13,343)

$1,371,974

118

3

Lance, Leonard

R

$14,279

($63,969)

($49,690)

33

11

LoBiondo, Frank

R

$20,338

($67,482)

($47,144)

39

12

Pallone, Frank

D

$63,590

($5,016)

$58,574

43

3

Pascrell, William

D

$182,527

($6,188)

$176,339

68

5

Payne, Donald

D

$1,368,781

($13,345)

$1,355,436

86

4

Rothman, Steven

D

$174,937

($13,762)

$161,175

104

6

Runyan, Jon

R

$17,637

($47,445)

($29,808)

30

8

Sires, Albio

D

$188,126

($3,344)

$184,782

76

2

Smith, Christopher

R

$17,269

($63,959)

($46,690)

39

4

Note: The links in the names will open a detailed report
of that Member’s sponsored bills that had cost estimates.

  • Among the states and territories, New Jersey’s House delegation had the 13th largest average net spending agenda: $232 billion. Two members were sponsors of legislation to enact a single-payer, universal health system exclusively administered by the federal government.
  • Each House Democratic Representative from New Jersey backed legislation that, overall, would lead to net spending increases.
  • If all of the legislation that Representative Holt either sponsored or cosponsored during the 112th Congress were passed into law, spending would increase by more than $1.4 trillion – the most new spending supported by any Member from New Jersey and the 20th overall.
  • All of the Republicans from New Jersey were “net cutters”: if the legislation they each had sponsored were enacted into law, spending would decrease. Their net budget cutting agendas ranged from $30 billion to over $255 billion (Rep. Scott Garrett).
  • Among all House Members, Representative Frelinghuysen’s agenda included the fewest amount of spending increases ($377 million), more than offset by nearly $55 billion in cuts.
  • In the Upper Chamber, Senator Lautenberg would increase net spending: the bills he backed would, on net, raise spending by nearly $190 billion. Senator Menendez supported 85 increase proposals and 4 proposals to cut spending, for a net increase agenda of nearly $43 billion. The average Democratic Senator supported $39 billion in net increases.

The full report contains lots of other data points, including the cost of all bills introduced in each Chamber and a look at fiscally-related member caucuses such as the Tea Party Caucus.

Links:

  
National Taxpayers Union Foundation
108 North Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
703-683-5700, fax: 703-683-5722, e-mail: ntuf@ntu.org
www.ntu.org/ntuf
This report should not be construed as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress or as reflecting on a Member’s fitness to serve.