New Jersey Struggling–Except for Booming Obamacare Payments

If Gov. Chris Christie decides to enter the 2016 presidential sweepstakes, he’s got a big problem: New Jersey’s economy is struggling even more than the rest of the country’s economy.

“New Jersey’s tepid revenue growth has strained the budget,” the Philadelphia Inquirer explains. “For example, income tax collections fell short of Christie’s projections last April, resulting in a two-year shortfall of nearly $3 billion.”

When David Rosen, the legislature’s top budget official, testified for lawmakers on Monday, most of his news was bad. “We’re clearly underperforming” in most areas, he said. However, in at least one way, New Jersey is doing better than expected.

As Inquirer statehouse reporter Andrew Seidman tweeted:

So New Jersey has that going for it–which is nice. But it probably won’t help Gov. Christie when the GOP primaries arrive.

Christie’s treasurer, Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff, spoke to lawmakers separately from Rosen.