Jindal Spurns Obamas Jobless Aid as Mayor Pleads Help Me Now
That doesnt make sense to Clarence Hawkins, the mayor of Bastrop, Louisiana. An International Paper Co. mill closed in November as pulp demand fell worldwide, leaving the town without one of its biggest employers.
“Give me something now,” said Hawkins, a Democrat whose city of 12,500 lost more than 400 jobs. “Help me right now. I need to survive today.”
Bastrop is bracing for another blow. A Pilgrims Pride Corp. poultry plant 35 miles away may close, shedding 1,300 more workers unless a bankruptcy judge approves the plants sale. The Pittsburg, Texas-based company, which is the worlds largest chicken producer, filed under Chapter 11 in December.
With U.S. joblessness at a 25-year high, the rejection by Jindal and five other Republican governors of more than $1.8 billion of the stimulus has drawn protests from Democrats and their allies.
In Alaska, Governor Sarah Palin rejected $288 million, including funds for education and social services. She cited concerns about sustaining the spending after federal help ends. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has said hell refuse $700 million in stimulus money. He says the funds will not create jobs and will merely add to the national deficit.
Lawmakers in both states, including some Republicans, say they will try to overrule the governors and accept South Carolinas full $2.8 billion and Alaskas $930 million.
Fundamental Transformation
Behind the clashes, which have given rise to television commercials by the Democratic National Committee in South Carolina and labor rallies in Louisiana and Texas, is one common theme: a debate over whether state unemployment insurance programs are the right vehicles for helping the needy.
One provision in the stimulus would make short-term or part-time workers more likely to qualify for the benefits, along with those forced to give up jobs because of hardships such as domestic violence or family illness.
“This is a fundamental transformation of the unemployment compensation program to a welfare-style program,” said Jim Patterson, vice president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry in Baton Rouge, the states largest business lobby.
Such aid should be reserved for “people who deserve it and not just folks we like to willy-nilly pay money to,” Patterson said in an interview.
Jindals move puts Louisiana in the heart of a just-say-no belt — a cluster of southern states whose Republican governors have declined parts of the recovery package. Along with South Carolina, the other states are Texas, Mississippi and Alabama.
Sanford of South Carolina rebuffed $90 million to expand aid to part-timers. Alabama Governor Bob Riley asked his legislature to oppose rules that would qualify the state for $99 million in jobless benefits. In Mississippi, Governor Haley Barbour turned away $56 million.
Democrats and their allies are using the issue to lay a foundation for gubernatorial elections and label potential 2012 Obama challengers, such as Jindal, as out of the mainstream.
In South Carolina, the DNC is running ads condemning Sanford, 48, for “kowtowing to the Rush Limbaugh-led obstructionist wing” of the Republican Party, invoking the name of the conservative radio talk show host.
Narcissistic Decision
In Alaska, Bob Poe, a Democrat running to unseat Palin, accused her of a “narcissistic” decision meant to appeal to her “ultraconservative base.” Palin, 45, was Arizona Senator John McCains running mate in last years presidential elections.
“We will request federal stimulus funds for capital projects that will create new jobs and expand the economy,” Palin said in a news release March 19. “We wont be bound by federal strings in exchange for dollars, nor will we dig ourselves a deeper hole in two years when these federal funds are gone.”