CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Feb. 21, 2009 – 4:51 p.m.
At Governors’ Meeting, Schweitzer Jabs at Jindal
By Josh Goodman, Governing.com
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer , a Democrat, took a not-so-subtle shot at Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal , a Republican, as the National Governors Association winter meeting opened Saturday.
Here’s what Schweitzer said about governors rejecting money from the federal stimulus law (PL 111-5): “Simply what I have said is that if you don’t like these federal dollars, what about the other 95% of the federal dollars you’ve already received? If you reject 98 million dollars for unemployment, why did you receive the 10 billion dollars for all the rest of the programs that came from the federal government?”
A day earlier, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal had become the first governor to announced he will turn down stimulus money, rejecting $98 million to expand unemployment payments because, he said, accepting the money would force the state to raise taxes in the future.
Schweitzer sought to make the case that the federal recovery package really doesn’t ask state governments to do anything they’re not already doing.
“We’re getting wrapped around the axle on these new stimulus dollars as if the federal government never sent any money to states before,” he said. “Who builds the highways? They send the money, we do. They send the money, we fix them. Who shares in Medicaid? This is not something new. People act as though these dollars are a brand new source of dollars that are going out to states. They’ve added about 20%, maybe 25% this year, but during the time that these governors — must of whom will be governors during an 8-year period — this represents around 5, 6 percent of the total dollars that come from the federal government.”
Schweitzer is the head of the Democratic Governors Association, which is aggressively defending the stimulus.
Jindal is confirming his conservative bonafides by turning down the money. He’s also setting up a contrast with President Obama days before he’s set to deliver the Republican response to Obama’s first address to Congress.
Both governors appear to have national aspirations for the future, though Jindal has indicated he’s not running in 2012 and Schweitzer presumably won’t either, since Obama will be the Democratic candidate. So, Saturday’s set-to could be considered the first broadside of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Schweitzer’s comments came at the meeting’s opening press conference. Two other governors on the stage, Democrat Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Republican Jim Douglas of Vermont, tried to play down any controversy over unemployment benefits.
Goodman writes for the blog “Ballot Box” on Governing.com.
Comments
Hypocrisy, anyone? Political posturing, anyone? I appreciate Gov. Schweitzer for letting citizens know that this is just a political ploy.
Republicans will never nominate Jindal - won't make the mistake the dems did. Jindal is a muslim who claims to be a Christian. Another BO! Jindal is the media darling, but Palin will be the true salvation in 2012.
It's gonna be Schweitzer v. Jindal in 2016
Jindal is playing politics. Schweitzer is right to show that the GOP governors takes federal money and will continue to do so in the future.
Gregg, I can only assume that you're being facetious because 1. Jindal is definitely, definitely Catholic, and 2. he converted from Hinduism, not Islam. I understand that perhaps you assume that everybody with ancestry from that area of the world is Muslim, but that's blatantly and fundamentally incorrect. I don't like Jindal, but the Republicans have NO CHANCE of taking the White House with Palin. Actually sit down and think about it for a bit. Think about which voter demographics (other than conservatives) the Repubs will have to hit in order to win...
Jindal & Palin are both numbnuts. The Republicans have NO CHANCE period in 2012.
Schweitzer for Prez in 16! Terrific choice - he's a winner!
I wish I could pretend I thought Gregg was being facetious but having encoutered a lot of republicans I somehow doubt it. I'm willing to bet the Gregg took one look at Jindal's face, saw a brown person and assumed he must be muslim. It's a mentality that will continue to hold the republicans back. Anywhoo to the main topic. One comedian made a crack about how republicans are opposing 100% of the stimulus bill based on the 2% of the bill that they oppose. Jindal is doing the same thing. He takes 99% of the stimulus funds, rejects 1% in a rather dramatic fashion, and creates the myth that he kept his state's economy afloat without federal money and rides the myth to the republican nomination in 2012. That is provided the prejudices of the Greggs of the republican party don't derail his effort. Most red states take more money in federal dollars than they pay in federal taxes but their governors make a little bit of noise on TV and get to sound like they are being fiscally responsible. I can't even be mad at them because it's not like Obama hasn't done similar things in his past. There is plenty of hypocrisy to go around.
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