Will politics trump federal money in Louisiana? Is their politically ambitious governor cynically courting GOP Confederates in advance of 2012?
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, has suggested his state may not be interested in all of the roughly $4 billion allotted to it in the economic stimulus package to be signed by President Obama today.
"We'll have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars," Jindal said, according to CBS affiliate WWLTV.
Jindal is scheduled to give the response to the president’s not-exactly-a-state-of-the-union address next Tuesday.
"We'll have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars," Jindal said, according to CBS affiliate WWLTV.
Jindal is scheduled to give the response to the president’s not-exactly-a-state-of-the-union address next Tuesday.
Louisiana reportedly faces a possible $2 billion budget shortfall next year. It has been allocated $538,575,876 for infrastructure spending in the stimulus package, and the White House predicts the bill will create 50,000 jobs in the state.
As WWLTV notes, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has said he’ll take any money that Louisiana turns down.
The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, isn’t letting up in its criticism of Democrats over the stimulus package. Following the White House’s releases trumpeting the bill, the RNC sent an email to reporters offering research on “Democrats’ broken pledges on transparency, bipartisanship, pork, and job creation.”
In the most recent available U.S. Census figures, Louisiana is 46th out of the 50 states in household income, and Katrina-ravaged New Orleans remains largely off the national radar three-and-a-half years later.
Bobby Jindal may be puffing out his chest and trumpeting his conservative bona fides to the GOP Confederates in advance of the 2012 presidential horse race. What better way to do that than to screw the residents of your own state while selling yourself as a small-government, anti-Obama?
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