Bobby Jindal

Bold moves have just been made by potential 2012 GOP Presidential Candidate Bobby Jindal. Alot of our GOP state Governors and Legislatures have been grumbling about the implications of our new stimulus package now that the details are coming to light. I was in a philosophical dilemma about it as well. I really think this is where "the devil is in the details" saying really hits home.

Any lawyer or legislator knows that clauses or even words in a document can change the entire purpose of any legal directive or legislative initiative. I am currently dealing with legislation that was written beautifully, passed and became an Act in Tennessee. There was one word switch during an amendment process, "May" instead of "Shall", that changed everything. 5 years later, over 880,000 constituents in Tennessee are still dealing with the repercussions. And let me tell you, changing ANYTHING in Nashville, once it is in place, is a daunting process to say the least.

Bobby Jindal knows that about his own home state legislative process and has responded accordingly. That took some major political cajones. I like that.

The strings attached to the current Administration's money purse may be too far reaching for our more conservative state leaders. Now let's see what everyone does now that this hand has been played.


Jindal catches flak for rejecting federal cash
February 22, 2009 By Robert Travis ScottCapital bureau

BATON ROUGE -- After becoming the first governor in the nation to reject a piece of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal defended his stance Saturday amid an outcry from the lieutenant governor and several state lawmakers who disagree with him.

The debate about Jindal's position on the stimulus plan coincides with a key moment in his continuing rise to national prominence, including his role as the Republican Party's pick to respond on national TV to Obama's address to Congress on Tuesday night.

Jindal traveled Saturday to Washington, D.C., to attend the National Governors Association conference, meet with the president and appear today on NBC's "Meet the Press."

His position on the stimulus already has earned him national media attention at a time when many other governors attending the same conference are seeking the limelight.

"It has always been very complicated to be a spokesperson for the nation and a spokesperson for the state at the same time, because those interests do not always line up," said Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, a Democrat and brother of Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., one of the architects of the federal stimulus bill passed last week.

Mitch Landrieu, three state senators and Rep. Karen Carter-Peterson, D-New Orleans, held a conference call with reporters Saturday afternoon to say that Louisiana should fully embrace the federal stimulus money. They said Jindal's statements are sending the wrong message to Washington.

Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain also joined the call to praise the stimulus bill's assistance to farmers.

Jindal is prepared to accept nearly all of the roughly $3.8 billion in financing and tax cuts that Louisiana is in line to receive under the stimulus bill, with much of the money available to help close a looming state budget gap of about $1.75 billion.

But the governor said Friday he would refuse $98 million for federal unemployment assistance because he said it comes with strings that would obligate the state to make permanent, costly changes in its law and would mean higher taxes and more administrative headaches for businesses.

The unemployment money, which would run out in about two years, would significantly broaden the conditions for drawing jobless compensation, with benefits available to people who have held a job for as little as three months before becoming unemployed, nine months less than the current standard.

The $98 million would not count toward closing the state's budget shortfall.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, also has expressed reservations about taking the unemployment money, and Jindal said several other states are taking a close look at it.

"I don't think you're going to find this is an issue unique to Louisiana," Jindal said. "If you read the stimulus law, it actually requires permanent changes in state law. I don't think that's responsible. It's not good policy."

Speaking to reporters Saturday before departing for Washington, Jindal said his administration is looking at the stimulus bill "line by line, program by program" to see whether other programs in it should be rejected. In particular, he said, he is looking closely at the strings attached to the federal money for welfare assistance.

"Just philosophically, if I were altering the welfare provisions, I would have done it differently," Jindal said.

But no decision has made on whether to accept the welfare money, he said.

By scrutinizing the expansion of unemployment and welfare benefits, Jindal is focusing attention on two policy areas that often have separated Democrats from Republicans.

He said that although he found some of the provisions for jobless benefits in the stimulus bill "objectionable," his main reason for refusing the federal money was the potential future cost in business taxes.

Mitch Landrieu said Jindal's rhetoric and decisions could hurt the state directly because of the lost stimulus money and indirectly because the state is seeking other federal recovery and grant money.

"Instead of getting reluctant about receiving it, we should be aggressive about getting as much as we can," Landrieu said.

Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, who joined Landrieu on the media call, said, "We should never put ourselves in a position where we say we don't want it."

Adley said he does not think the unemployment benefits need to tie the state permanently to the program and that the Legislature could control the program's impact in later years.

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