Louisiana's Cao vacillates on Obama's budget; Jindal plans to reject more stimulus funds

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) may break ranks with the Republican Party when the House votes on President Obama's budget proposal later this week. Cao told The Hill on Tuesday that his constituents are divided about the $3.6 trillion budget, adding that he wants more information before deciding whether to stick with his party or side with the president.

"At this point, I'm not sure which is approach is better," Cao told The Hill.

If he votes yes, Cao would be the first Republican in recent memory to support a Democratic budget resolution. The freshman Congressman has gotten much flack in the past couple of months from his Louisiana 2nd District constituency as well as from other Gulf Coast advocates for siding with his party over the needs of his residents. Cao's constituents voted in high numbers for Obama last November (in fact Obama won Cao's district with 74 percent of the vote). Many of those constituents continue to support the president's plans for economic recovery, particularly as the district struggles to rebuild.

In fact, when Cao voted against the Obama recovery package, a coalition of ministers from Cao's district filed a petition to recall Cao for his opposition to the Obama's stimulus plan. Grassroots groups have argued that by toeing the Republican Party line, the Congressman's actions are posing a grave threat to the district and state. Gulf Coast advocates continue to point out that Louisiana, and especially Cao's district, is in desperate need of an economic recovery package.

In Louisiana the lingering evidence of Hurricane Katrina's devastation - and more recently Ike and Gustav's - remains. Miles of abandoned lots, broken buildings and pock-marked highways riddle the state, and thousands of families continue to struggle to find homes. Given this bleak picture - made worse by the state's projected $2 billion budget shortfall - one would think that Louisiana lawmakers would welcome all the help he could get, knowing that federal funds could make a huge difference.

As ThinkProgress points out:

Obama's budget offers significant benefits to the people of Louisiana. The Center for American Progress Action Fund found that approximately 1.5 million Louisiana families would benefit directly from Obama's proposal to extend the Making Work Pay tax cut. As Cao himself noted, Obama's proposal also includes one billion dollars for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Housing Voucher Program and Affordable Housing Trust Fund, a portion of which will go to his most needy constituents.

Finally, because a significant number of his constituents live in New Orleans, Cao should consider the fact that Obama's budget includes money to continue and accelerate recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The question now is whether or not Cao can begin to put the long-term interests of his constituents before his own short-term interests within the House Republican Caucus.

Perhaps Cao is still wobbling due to the bad example being set by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who made the controversial announcement in February that he was rejecting $98.4 million in federal stimulus money that would expand Louisiana's unemployment compensation program. Some Democrats in the Louisiana legislature have said they will still push for the state to accept all of the stimulus money for which it is eligible. But Tuesday Jindal's administration notified legislative leaders that it plans to reject even more funds - this time turning down federal health-care dollars for the poor and uninsured.

Despite the fact that most Southern governors support stimulus spending, a handful of Southern governors and state legislatures continue to make headlines this week as they battle it out over whether or not states will reject portions of the federal stimulus money. In the South - following Jindal's lead - Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Bob Riley of Alabama, Rick Perry of Texas and Haley Barbour of Mississippi have also made announcements that they will not accept funds for expanding eligibility rules for unemployment benefits.

In Alabama, state lawmakers on Tuesday took steps to pass a resolution that could help them accept $99 million in federal money to provide jobless benefits in Alabama, even if Gov. Bob Riley objects. But in South Carolina on Tuesday, South Carolina's Attorney General Henry McMaster issued an opinion that the state legislature cannot bypass Gov. Mark Sanford to accept the $700 million in federal stimulus money. South Carolina legislators, in response to the news, predicted dire consequences if they have to write a budget without the money, including laying off as many as 3,000 teachers, reports the Charleston Post and Courier.