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Gov. Chris Christie said he won't support Democrats' latest proposal to raise money for the Transportation Trust Fund.

TRENTON -- Gov. Chris Christie on Monday rejected the latest transportation funding bid by Democratic legislative leaders to raise gasoline tax in exchange for a patchwork of tax cuts, calling their offer "dead on arrival."

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) announced Friday they'd agreed on a new plan to raise money for the Transportation Trust Fund, which expired at the end of June. It is estimated to run out of money in early August.

However, Christie, who had earlier struck a deal with Prieto to raise the gas tax by 23 cents a gallon in exchange for cutting the 7 percent sales tax to 6 percent, said this plan doesn't cut taxes enough.

The stalemate prompted the governor to halt hundreds of road projects and rail earlier this month.

"As I have said for two years, any solution for a Transportation Trust Fund must have as its foundation tax fairness. This proposal does not," Christie said. "Hopefully when they return to New Jersey after the Democrat National Convention in Philadelphia, the Democrats will put forward a plan consistent with that principle."

"Their current proposal, however is dead on arrival."

The Democrats' new plan would not cut the sales tax but would eliminate the estate tax, allow more retirement income to be free of state income taxes, increase the Earned Income Tax for the working poor and provide new tax breaks for veterans and commuters.

It is similar to the proposal the Legislature was moving toward approving last month, before Christie struck the gas tax increase-for-sales tax cut deal Christie had struck with the Assembly.

Each alternative has called for a 23 cent per gallon increase on gasoline purchased in New Jersey.

Democrats weren't optimistic Christie would get behind the plan. Sweeney said they would be working to shore up support from Republicans for a veto override.

Their previous proposal had struggled to mount a veto-proof majority in the Assembly, creating an opening for the governor to step in and strike a deal with the Assembly to cut the sales tax.

Christie said in a statement Monday that he's reviewed their proposal and determined it does not satisfy New Jerseyans' need and his call for tax fairness.

"Therefore, I cannot support it," he said.

The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up the latest alternative Friday.

With the statewide construction freeze in its third week, Sweeney said there's urgency to get the bill through the Legislature soon.

To ration the trust fund's remaining balance, Christie issued an executive order idling $3.5 billion in work, including more than 900 road and bridge projects and hundreds more rail projects.

Industry experts estimate the the work stoppage took thousands of construction workers off the job and that the ranks will climb as it drags on.

But lawmakers have described a seemingly unbreachable divide. Sweeney said the governor's sales tax proposal, which is estimated to cost the treasury about $1.9 billion a year by 2022, would leave the state unable to pay its bills. He said his house will not pass that bill, which passed the Assembly in a surprise vote in late June.

Meanwhile, Christie wants a more broad-based tax cut to soften the blow of the 23-cent gas tax hike, which will take the tax from second lowest in the U.S. to seventh highest.

Christie also called out Prieto for giving into the Senate's "failed approach."

The Assembly speaker said Friday he gave the governor and Senate a chance to reach a compromise on the trust fund, but the stalemate can no longer continue.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.