New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may have made headlines by addressing the simmering scandal about the closing the George Washington Bridge during his State of the State Address, but his thoughts about pension reform also stirred controversy.

Christie urged pension changes to free up money that he said was needed for schools, infrastructure and other projects. Next year, the state is supposed to pay $2.4 billion into the pension system. That would add $1 billion next year to the state's bill for pension and debt service costs.

"That's nearly $1 billion we can't spend on education. That we can't invest in infrastructure improvement. That we can't use to put more cops on the street," the governor said. "That won't be available to improve access to health care."

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