Christie on Debt Crisis: 'What the Hell Are They Doing?'

Gov. Chris Christie said today that like many, he's relieved Congressional leaders and President Obama have struck a deal to avoid a federal default. He said divided goverment isn't easy, but it's possible.

His remarks, as transcribed by his office:

Well I think we have to look at the specifics of it, Terry, as to whether it’s going to be a good deal for the states or not. Here’s what I’m happy about. They finally did something. I mean, I don’t know, I’m like, I think most citizens in this country are, sitting around saying, ‘What the hell are they doing down there?’ And you know, they don’t talk to each other, they talk at each other, they’re worried more about talking to the cable TV stations than they are about talking to their colleague sitting to their right or to their left. President seemed to be absent for most of this, I mean if we ever did that in New Jersey we’d be run out of town on a rail.

You look at what we’ve done in the first 18 months in New Jersey with divided government. You know, divided government is a challenge, but it’s not impossible. With divided government, we’ve gotten two budgets that have cut significant money from the expenditures it’s saved New Jersey. We’ve gotten a 2 percent property tax cap, we’ve reformed the interest arbitration system to keep property taxes down, we have put forward $132 billion dollars in savings for taxpayers over the next 30 years by reforming the pension and public health benefit system, to protect the pensions of those people who are collecting them and also to try to help to save the taxpayers. All this stuff has been done in divided government, because Senator Sweeney, Speaker Oliver, Senator Kean, Assemblyman DeCroce and I talk to each other, not at each other.

So I’ll look at what the specifics are, Terry when they come out, I think the members of Congress are still trying to get their arms around the specifics of the deal, and I’ll certainly comment on that when I get a better handle on it from the folks who look at this stuff for me in Washington. But I will say that I join, I’m sure hundreds of millions of Americans, to say I am relieved that the Congress and the President have finally gotten around to doing their jobs not a moment too soon, and I wish they would look more to the states for an example of how you can get this done. And whether it’s me in New Jersey with divided government, or that it’s Governor Cuomo across the river in New York with divided government, we’re both setting an example.

So it’s not a Republican or Democratic issue. It’s a leadership issue. And if you understand that, you know, your job is to lead and get things done, and not just to posture and pose in front of these cameras, then you actually get your job done, so I’m relieved that the President and Congress finally got to that this weekend, but I’m sure that Governor Cuomo and I would be happy to run a seminar for them anytime, to try to let them know how to get things done.