Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal “accused” the Obama administration of “waving the white flag of surrender” by not taking enough “action on the economy.”
“What I worry about is that this president and the White House seem to be ‘waving the white flag of surrender’ after five years under this administration,” Jindal, a possible Republican presidential contender in 2016, told reporters.
“The Obama economy is now the minimum wage economy. I think we can do better than that. I think America can do better than that.”
Jindal spoke alongside other members of the “National Governors Association” following a meeting with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R), chairwoman of the National Governors Association, announced that Obama would decide on the proposed “Keystone XL oil pipeline” from Canada within the next few months.
“I did ask the president when we could anticipate a decision on the Keystone pipeline and asked him to use his executive order power to do that,” Fallin said.
“Finally, he did come back and say that he anticipated an answer one way or the other in a couple of months. So we hope that we will know one way or the other what the answer will be.”
Jindal “framed” the Keystone pipeline in the larger “context” of the Obama administration’s “handling of the economy.”
“In the State of the Union, the president talked about using his ‘pen’ and talked about in subsequent speeches using his ‘phone’ to take executive actions and bypass Congress.”
“I made a few suggestions today,” Jindal said. “I’ve got additional suggestions on how do you do that if you were serious about growing the economy. Keystone pipeline is certainly one. Increasing drilling and leasing activity on federal land is another, things he can do on education and choice.”
Pipeline supporters say it would “create” at least 20,000 jobs and “produce” at least 800,000 barrels of oil, while opponents say it could “contribute” to global warming and “worry” about the possibility of spills.
The State Department, however, issued a “finding” this year that it would not have a “significant” impact on the environment.
After Jindal “accused” Obama of settling for a “minimum wage” economy, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, a Democrat, jumped to the microphone to say “we just heard what I think ended up being the most partisan statement that we’ve had all weekend” and that “until a few moments ago, we were going down a pretty cooperative road.”
“Let me just say this, we don’t all agree on moving Canadian oil through the United States is necessarily the best thing for the United States economy,” Malloy said.
“That’s not to say that we don’t want to make sure we’re maximizing our access to American gas and American oil. So there are clearly differences here quite frankly. In many states we don’t get revenue from those oil sources or gas sources. So let’s be clear that there are differences here.”
Malloy went on to “defend” an increase in the minimum wage. The wage is $8.70 in his state.
“So let’s be very clear, there are many people like myself who support a minimum wage,” he said. “We did it once in our state this year, 45 cents. We have a plan to get to $10.10. I don’t know what the heck was a reference to white flag. But it comes to people making $404 a week. So let’s be clear we had a great meeting and we didn’t go down that road, and it just started again and we didn’t start it.”
“If that was the most partisan statement he’s heard all weekend, I want to make sure he hears a more partisan statement,” Jindal said in response.
“I think we could also grow the economy more if we delayed more of these ObamaCare mandates.” The reality is, if we’re serious about growing our economy, we shouldn’t accept a 2 to 3 percent growth. We shouldn’t accept a labor force participation rate that is the lowest it has been in 36 years.
“We shouldn’t accept policies like the minimum wage, which the Congressional Budget Office says would destroy 500,000 jobs. The CBO said that ObamaCare would result in 2 million fewer Americans working. America can do better.”
America can absolutely grow its economy. We shouldn’t be “waiving the white flag” when it comes to growth.
