Project Katrina

Well it would appear this is the start of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Saying that it could lead to a tax increase on state businesses, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Friday that the state plans to reject as much as $98 million in federal unemployment assistance in the economic stimulus package.

Jindal, who has emerged as a leading Republican critic of the $787 billion spending and tax-cut bill signed into law this week by President Barack Obama, said the state would accept federal dollars for transportation projects and would not quarrel with a $25-per-week increase in unemployment benefits.

Both of those items are financed entirely with federal dollars and require the state only to accept the money. The part that Jindal rejected would require permanent changes in state law that the governor said makes it unacceptable. [...]

But U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., disputed the governor’s interpretation and said the new unemployment benefits are designed to be temporary. “This bill is an emergency measure designed to provide extra help during these extraordinarily tough times,” Landrieu said. “To characterize this provision as a ‘tax increase on Louisiana businesses’ is inaccurate.”

I’ve read multiple stories on this topics and the best I can tel is that Jindal’s position is he’d rather limit unemployed assistance now than worry about a possible tax increase on businesses three years from now.