Governor Bobby Jindal Talks to IE Business Daily

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal recently stated he believes the Republican party “needs to show we are not just a cheaper version of the Democratic party.” After his keynote address at the Unite IE Conservative Conference in Riverside on February 21, Jindal spoke to IE Business Daily about what that declaration meant.

“One great example is that there are Republicans in D.C. that don’t want to repeal all of Obamacare,” Jindal said. “They’re saying that they can’t get rid of all the tax increases; they want to replace his entitlement program with another new entitlement program.” He believes the Republican-controlled Congress and Senate are making a mistake by proposing minor adjustments to Obamacare, and by measuring its success in terms of how many people have signed up. “They want to count success in terms of how many people have cards, rather than actually reducing costs or making sure people have meaningful coverage,” Jindal said. “To me, that would be a mistake. That would be Obamacare light.”

Instead, the possible 2016 presidential contender believes that Republicans should repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety and adopt his more conservative approach to healthcare. “Our party’s candidates campaigned on repealing all of Obamacare,” Jindal said. His plan to repeal the ACA, which he outlined in detail from the conference stage, would replace the program with legislation that focuses on reducing costs. “It does not involve raising taxes, it does not involve a new entitlement program, it does not involve adopting this false measure of success,” he said.

But Obamacare was just one example of an area where Jindal believes Republicans attempt to represent themselves as watered-down Democrats. “I think there are many others where Republicans in D.C. are trying to claim victory by saying, ‘we’re going to raise taxes a little bit less than the President, we’re going to decrease spending a little bit,’” Jindal said. “I think voters want big change. I think they want to see the reckless spending stop.”

Jindal’s remarks to IE Business Daily implied that his Republican re-branding strategy would include a more stalwart commitment to principles. “Voters want our leaders to be authentic and stand up for what they believe in, even when they get pushed back or criticized by the media or the left,” he said. “We elected them to do that.”