Jindal Joins Governors At Obama Gathering
by Jonathan Tilove - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Members of the National Governors Association were feted at a White House dinner Sunday night and then met with the president and members of his Cabinet in the State Dining Room on Monday morning.

According to a pool report on the meeting by a member of the White House press corps, at one point President Obama "looked toward" Jindal and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and "acknowledged legitimate differences and the valid concerns of some governors, including Barbour and Jindal, who won't take money to extend unemployment benefits. But he also said that amounts to $7 billion of a $787 billion bill."

After the meeting, Jindal told reporters that, "I do appreciate the president acknowledging that there are legitimate concerns, legitimate issues when it comes to taking federal dollars that may lead to permanent spending obligations."

Jindal also said the Obama administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress could have crafted "a very different stimulus bill, a bill that is truly targeted and focused on infrastructure and the type of tax credits that would have led to investment by the private sector."

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat and the head of the Governors Association, said he shared Jindal's concern about imposing an additional tax burden on businesses, but that, in the current economic crisis, "people are hurting" and that he had a "moral duty" to accept the money for additional unemployment assistance.