3 Ways New Jersey Gets Hurt By Trump's Budget, Lawmakers Say

New Jersey's new budget may tax your wallet. But President Trump's budget could tax your commute – and your wallet, among other things that lawmakers say could hurt the state's residents.

And perhaps one of the biggest problems in the budget that was released on Monday is what was omitted, lawmakers say: A new tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, called the "Gateway project," that could dramatically relieve traffic congestion for millions of commuters.

Read more: 6 Major Points In NJ Gov. Murphy's Budget Address That Affect You

Here are three ways people in New Jersey could be impacted in a bad way, lawmakers say:

Gatway tunnel project

Lawmakers ripped the president's proposed 2020 budget for lacking funding for the $13.5 billion project. The budget even cuts the money that was supposed to be used to help plan it and launch it: from $650 million to $350 million.

Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Rosen said in a conference call that there "is no reason for the federal government to have those projects jump the line and receive massive federal subsidies" such as the Gateway project.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-Morris, said transportation infrastructure investments "are an urgent national priority to grow our economy, and slashing the Department of Transportation's budget by more than 20 percent is a step backwards, not forwards, for commuters in New Jersey and across the country."

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-Bergen and Sussex, and NY Rep. Peter King also introduced a bipartisan bill demanding a contingency plan for the "Doomsday" scenario if one, or both, of the two existing North River Tunnels is shut down beneath the Hudson River. They also stressed the immediate need for the Gateway Tunnel.

The North River Tunnel tracks carry 200,000 travelers daily and are crumbling after damage from more than 100 years of use and flooding during Superstorm Sandy, they said. Last week, the Regional Plan Association released "A Preventable Crisis," a report outlining the catastrophic economic consequences of a tunnel being shut down.

"Our bill will demand answers from the Department of Transportation on, if a tunnel goes down, how will the economy work? How will people get into the city and back home? What is their contingency plan?" Gottheimer said.

Cap on state and local income tax deductions

The government continues to cap state and local income taxes that had benefitted millions of New Jerseyans before Trump's tax reform plan was approved more than a year ago.

Based on that, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-Middlesex and Monouth, said Trump's budget proposal is "a sham and has absolutely no chance at ever becoming a reality" because, he says, it continues to give the richest portions of the population and corporations unnecessary and expensive "tax breaks."

"It's clear President Trump and his Administration learned nothing from the government shutdown," he said. "Congress simply will not support a proposal that makes drastic cuts to federal agencies so the president can continue to shower the wealthy with giant tax breaks, increase funding for the Defense Department and build his unnecessary wall."

US Sen. Robert Menendez and Rep. Bill Pascrell, both Democrats, are sponsoring the Stop the Attack on Local Taxpayers (SALT) Act, which is supposed to the alleviate the burden on the middle class created by the "Republican tax scam of 2017," the lawmakers said.

"Our bipartisan bill is a first step in undoing the damage of the GOP tax scam and moving toward a fairer, more progressive tax code. It should be noted that the Koch brothers-backed organization offering this opinion has been an unabashed cheerleader of the GOP tax giveaway to the rich, and has been working assiduously to eliminate the State and Local Tax deduction for decades," both lawmakers said.

"While we wait for official scores from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation before drawing any conclusions on cost, no distribution table can give the full story of the damage the SALT cap is inflicting homeowners and communities."

Cuts to social progams that benefit New Jersey

Local lawmakers criticized the budget for having steep cuts to social programs. The budget calls for $845 billion in Medicare cuts over 10 years, as well as deep cuts to early childhood care for working families that will "harm" New Jersey's population and the economy, Sherrill said.

The budget also cuts $220 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next decade, according to The Washington Post.

Sherrill did praise parts of the budget, saying she supports fully funding veterans medical care, and believes the additional $7 billion proposed "is urgently needed to increase veterans access to quality medical care and support veterans' families."

"While I will work to help secure funding for these common sense priorities and a strong national defense, it is simply not credible to put forward a budget that slashes $33 billion over the next decade for working families and the neediest amongst us," she said.