Republican Strategy Advancing: Jindal signals Louisiana may not take stimulus money

February 17, 2009

Jindal Signals Louisiana May Not Take Stimulus Money


(CBS)
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.

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.”

The email quotes news stories on order to criticize Democrats for breaking a promise to post the bill online 48 hours in advance of a vote, for not working in a bipartisan manner, for putting out a package “loaded with wasteful earmarks,” and for overestimating the bill’s job creation potential.

House Republican Leader John Boehner also put out a statemnet hammering the deal.

“The flawed bill the President will sign today is a missed opportunity, one for which our children and grandchildren will pay a hefty price," he said. "It’s a raw deal for American families, providing just $1.10 per day in relief for workers while saddling every family with $9,400 in added debt to pay for special-interest programs and pork-barrel projects. It will do little to create jobs, and will do more harm than good to middle-class families and our economy."