WASHINGTON, D.C. — Delving into national policy issues and calling on politicians from both parties to make tough decisions, Gov. Chris Christie today addressed a packed room at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Before a room full of national media and fiscal policy experts, Christie compared his fight to overhaul pension and health care benefits for...
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie in this Feb. 15 file photo.WASHINGTON, D.C. — Delving into national policy issues and calling on politicians from both parties to make tough decisions, Gov. Chris Christie today addressed a packed room at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
Before a room full of national media and fiscal policy experts, Christie compared his fight to overhaul pension and health care benefits for state employees with a need to reform entitlement programs run by the federal government.
"Pension and benefits are the equivalent of entitlements at the national level," Christie said.
Christie said the retirement age of Social Security needs to be raised and Medicaid drastically overhauled, adding that politicians have been fearful of going after the "third rail of politics" for year.
"Oh, I just said that, and I'm still standing here. I didn't vaporize," Christie said, drawing laughter from the room and adding later that lightning had not come through the window to strike him.
Spending on Social Security totaled $708 billion, or 20 percent, of the $3.6 trillion federal budget for fiscal 2010, according to the budget and policy center. Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program combined accounted for another $753 billion, or 21 percent, of the spending plan, according to an April report from the group.
Christie, who has at times shied away from talking about national issues, had harsh criticism for President Barack Obama, mocking the proposals in the State of the Union address, including high-speed rails and internet access.
"That's the candy of American politics," Christie said.
Christie described a "game" being played between Obama and Congressional Republicans in which each side was waiting for the other to make the first move on comprehensive reform.
"The game being played down here is irresponsible and dangerous," Christie said. "These are hard things to do, and they're not impossible things to do."
Christie, who campaigned for several Republican Congressional candidates during the fall elections, said it is time for them "to put up or shut up."
"Leadership is not about waiting," Christie said. "I get four years as governor of New Jersey, I don't have time to wait."
He warned that if those members he helped elect don't make the tough decisions, the next time they see him in their district will be with his "arm around their primary opponent."
The speech, titled “It’s Time to Do the Big Things,” echoed one Christie made last week to the Union League in Philadelphia, in which he said Republicans need to focus on controlling spending, reining in federal entitlements, instituting merit pay for teachers and ending tenure.
The first-term governor has become a Republican star after battling public-worker unions and closing a $10.7 billion budget deficit without raising taxes. Christie, who campaigned across the nation for his party’s candidates in the November elections, was named policy vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association today.
“Since the moment he took office, Gov. Christie has been a powerful example of the tremendous impact governors can make in their states and nationwide,” RGA Chairman Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, said in a statement. “Gov. Christie will be a valuable leader as the RGA continues to strengthen our policy arm.”
NATIONAL PARTY
The governor tied for third among potential Republican presidential nominees in a Feb. 10-12 straw poll by the Conservative Political Action Conference, with 6 percent of the vote. Christie has said he won’t seek the higher office in 2012.
Christie, in a Jan. 25 interview, said Medicaid costs will be the largest challenge in the state’s next budget, which he will propose on Feb. 22. The governor, during a Jan. 13 town-hall meeting in Paramus, said health-care costs “will bankrupt” the state unless it requires workers to pay more for medical coverage.
New Jersey is among 44 states facing a combined $125 billion of budget deficits in the next fiscal year, according to the Washington-based Center on Budget & Policy Priorities. New Jersey will spend $4.3 billion on health insurance this year, and that cost will rise 40 percent within four years, Christie said on Jan. 13.
Standard & Poor’s last week cut its rating on New Jersey’s debt to AA-, the fourth-highest level, citing the state’s growing pension and health-care liabilities. Only California and Illinois have lower ratings.
Christie, a former U.S. attorney, was the first Republican elected New Jersey governor since 1997 after voters grew angry with one-term Democrat Jon Corzine over taxes and the economy. Fifty-one percent of New Jersey voters approved of the way Christie is handling his job, while 39 percent disapproved, in a poll released today by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.