New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie orders government shutdown amid budget fight

[TampaChinnodu]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie orders government shutdown amid budget fight

•  80 Comment 
•  
•  Share 
•  
•  Tweet 
•  
•  Stumble 
•  
•  Email

Last Updated Jul 1, 2017 1:44 PM EDT

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the Democrat-led Legislature are returning to work to try to resolve the state's first government shutdown since 2006 and the first under Christie. 

The Republican governor and the Democrat-led Legislature failed to reach an agreement on a new budget by the deadline at midnight Friday, CBS New York reports. 

In a news conference Saturday morning, Christie blamed Democratic State Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto for causing the shutdown.

"If there's not a resolution to this today, everyone will be back tomorrow," Christie said, calling the shutdown "embarrassing and pointless." He also repeatedly referred to the government closure as "the speaker's shutdown." 

Christie later announced that he would address the full legislature later at the statehouse on Saturday. Prieto and state senate leaders planned to hold separate news conferences too.

Christie ordered nonessential services to close beginning Saturday. New Jerseyans were feeling the impact as the shutdown took effect, shuttering state parks and disrupting ferry service to Liberty and Ellis islands.

Among those affected were a group of Cub Scouts forced to leave a state park campsite and people trying to obtain or renew documents from the state motor vehicle commission, among the agencies closed by the shutdown.

Police were turning away vehicles and bicyclists at Island Beach state park in Ocean County. A sign posted at the park entrance featured a photo of Prieto and the phone number of his district office in Secaucus, along with the caption: "This facility is CLOSED because of this man." 

A sign hangs from a barricade at the entrance to Liberty State Park, which remains closed due to the New Jersey government shutdown, Saturday, July 1, 2017, in Jersey City., N.J.

 JULIO CORTEZ / AP

When asked about the sign, Christie spokesman Jeremy Rosen said the governor wanted to make sure people knew why the site was shuttered. 

"Speaker Prieto single-handedly closed state government," Rosen said, adding that the governor wanted to make sure families "knew that the facilities were closed and who is responsible."