Chris Christie in Meet the Press interviews during 2015

On Budget & Economy: Cut taxes and reduce spending, while creating new jobs

And the fact is that we spend $2.5 billion less than we used to. But here's the bigger thing. What they wanted was something in New Jersey who was going to finally stand up and say no to higher taxes, no to more spending, and more yes to parental involvement, parental choices. We've done all those things in New Jersey. And so anybody could pick out any kind of statistics they want. But in New Jersey, it's much better today than it was six years ago.

On Government Reform: Congress must work together for progress to happen

CHRISTIE: Well, I think that's why they're not working together. Because they want to burn Congress down because it doesn't do anything. I mean let's face it, I was out on the trails, you know, a lot in 2014, helping governors candidates and Senate candidates to get elected. What have these guys done, these Senate candidates, new senators, that they promised to do? We don't have tax reform on the President's desk. We don't have a repeal and a replacement of Obamacare on the desk. We don't have any of the things that they ran on, on the desk. Make the president veto them. This is why people can't stand Congress.

On Government Reform: As president, I will enforce law and transparency

CHRISTIE: The same thing that I've been doing every day, both as US attorney and as governor for the last 13 years, hold myself to the highest standards, and if mistakes are made, to hold the people responsible who make those mistakes, and to discuss it with the public openly and transparently. And remember this; everything I said 18 months ago in a two hour press conference, after three investigations, not one thing has been contradicted that I said.

Q: So the long-term effect of BridgeGate?

CHRISTIE: People love to make a big deal about this stuff, but in the end it's how you react. And I wish Barack Obama might have reacted the right way to the IRS scandal and been more transparent. But he hasn't, and that's a failure of leadership. This President's allowed lawlessness. I'll enforce law and order in this country as president of the US.

On Jobs: I fought greedy unions and irresponsible spending in N.J.

But the unions continue to want more and more and more. And in a Democratic state like New Jersey, it's tough to get them to push even further. But think about this. What the last credit report said was if the pension problem were fixed, New Jersey would be in good fiscal condition. And that's because we cut spending $2.5 billion from 16, lower than where it was in fiscal year '08.

So this is not about not having enough revenue. The government was too big. We've made it smaller. And if the pension system continues to get better, we'll be fine.