Senator Joe Pennacchio (R—Morris, Passaic) issued the following statement today after Senate Democrats voted in favor of dead-end reforms for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, while continuing to ignore bipartisan, bi-state reforms for the equally troubled Delaware River Port Authority.

New Jersey State Senator Joe Pennacchio discusses bi-state DRPA reform legislation during a press conference in front of the Ben Franklin Bridge in Camden, NJ on April 24, 2014. (Press Release)

“Senate Democrats showed again today they are more interested in playing political games than securing real reforms for the taxpayers and commuters of New Jersey,” said Pennacchio. “Rather than acting on substantive reforms that New York’s legislature passed and its Democrat Governor signed, Democrats here continue to waste significant time and resources on a dead-end bill.

Dems want dead-end @PANYNJ legislation, rather than reforms signed in NY & @DRPA_PAandNJ reforms PA advanced? https://t.co/e1gPALx2Sp

— Sen. Joe Pennacchio (@joepennacchio) February 11, 2016

“All the while, Democrat leaders continue to ignore equally important bipartisan legislation bringing badly needed accountability and reform to the long troubled DRPA,” Pennacchio added. “This same legislation has advanced in both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature but continues to be blocked here, despite its 15 sponsors from both sides of the aisle.”

In April 2014, Senator Pennacchio joined legislative leaders from Pennsylvania to introduce bipartisan crafted and supported legislation (now S-120) to reform the DRPA.

“The DRPA, a subject of federal investigation, has squandered hundreds of millions of public dollars on outlandish employee perks, patronage hires and pet development projects, yet Democrat leaders refuse to take any action to advance reform legislation that will make sure that type of gross mismanagement isn’t repeated,” Pennacchio said.