On the issues:
Foreign policy: Jindal has been critical of President Obama's policy toward the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, saying that he has not come up with a comprehensive plan to destroy the militant group. "We want our military leaders to do whatever it takes, not to degrade, contain or expel, but to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists," he said. The United States, he said, might need to bomb Iran to prevent it from getting a nuclear weapon. "I think it's still within our military's capabilities to take out their nuclear infrastructure," he said recently. "I don't think it will remain that way forever." He expresses staunch support for Israel and has criticized Obama over his tense relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He supports providing offensive weaponry to Ukraine to fight Russian-backed separatists, which the Obama administration has resisted. And he opposes Obama's warming of ties with Cuba.
Immigration: Jindal, the son of immigrants, says the United States should focus on attracting highly skilled foreign workers, adding, "One of the dumbest things we do right now is the number of people with advanced degrees we kick out to go and compete for other countries." He says border security must be strengthened to prevent illegal immigration. He has likened immigration by Muslims to an "invasion," and he proposed to block entry to people "who want to come and try to impose some variant of sharia law."
Same-sex marriage: Jindal opposes same-sex marriage. In May, after an uproar over an Indiana law that gave protection to business owners refusing to serve same-sex couples, he issued a similarly themed executive order. It bans Louisiana state agencies from denying charitable tax status and other benefits to entities that refuse, on religious grounds, to participate in same-sex marriage.
Environment: Jindal says he believes that the climate is changing and that human behavior has played a role in that phenomenon. But he favors efforts to develop new energy sources in ways that environmentalists say would ultimately increase climate-warming emissions, like allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil from Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast. And he opposes new federal rules to limit greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. But he supports "green energy" research and development to deal with what he calls the "possible risks" of climate change.
Education: Jindal now opposes the Common Core national education standards, which were intended to raise proficiency in math and English, although he once supported them: He said in 2012 that Louisiana had adopted the standards, saying they would "raise expectations for every child."
Economy and budget: Jindal pressed for the largest tax cut in Louisiana history when he became governor in 2008. He has slashed state spending, particularly in health care, and made some of the deepest higher education cuts in the nation. But the state has faced huge deficits recently, and Jindal has resisted efforts by the Republican-led Legislature to roll back tax credits and exemptions to balance the budget. Instead, he has called for further cuts and privatization of state services. Jindal has urged the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. He favors "premium support," a voucherlike program in which the government would give Medicare beneficiaries a fixed amount of money to buy coverage from competing private plans.
New York Times
