Lawmakers met Thursday in Trenton and decided to withhold a vote on Gov. Jon Corzine's proposal to cut $800 million out of the state budget.
Lawmakers say they decided to skip the vote because the final details of a different bill that would let towns avoid this year's pension payments was still being debated.
"I understand the friction, but it's time that we move," says Corzine. "All of us know that we have to make the difficult choices that come with an economic recession."
The Assembly did vote to give Corzine another month to deliver this year's budget address. Lawmakers say the governor needs the extra time to learn how much stimulus New Jersey might get from the federal government.
"It's not going to result in the budget being approved any later - just that the announcement will happen a short time later than it normally does," says democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the deputy speaker.
Also, two republican lawmakers rehashed plans for a sales-tax holiday, arguing for three 10-day periods in which the sales tax would be cut by at least half. However, the proposal faces stiff opposition because the governor has repeatedly argued the state can't afford to give up any revenue.