IANS
WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 29
Deriding Democrats as socialists and fellow Republicans in Washington as weak and too quick to surrender, Indian-American presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal has proposed making everyone - including the poor - pay federal income taxes.
This was the best way to rein in government spending, he said participating in Wednesday night’s undercard CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at Colorado University’s Coors Events Center, in Boulder, Colorado.
“I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in DC are spending our money,” Jindal said. “Socialism is bad. Not only for taxpayers, but for the people they’re trying to help. There’s dignity in work. There’s dignity in self-sufficiency.” “We are going the way of Europe,” he said at one point. “The left is trying to change the American dream into the European nightmare.”
Jindal joined three other low polling candidates -- South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former New York Governor George Pataki -- in the hour-long debate ahead of the main debate among top ten Republican candidates.
Taking up the role of the angry conservative, Jindal lobbed insults both at Democrats and at fellow Republicans in Washington, whom he accused of surrendering to Democrats. Jindal also criticized the budget agreement that the House approved Wednesday as a “very bad deal” and blamed the Republicans of Congress for refusing to fight.
“Here’s the problem: the Republicans never want to fight,” Jindal said, picking up on a pet campaign theme.
He praised Democrats for fighting effectively for “socialism.” “Why won’t the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity? This is a very bad budget.”
The four undercard Republicans, who have all struggled to gain any momentum in the polls, also took aim at the Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, but they all - including Jindal who has made a habit of attacking Donald Trump - refrained from criticising the party frontrunner .
Jindal ended the debate with an appeal for Americans to think of their country in Christian terms: with faith that a frightening situation could be saved.
“The idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans we believe that our best days are ahead of us,” Jindal said.
It was a reference to the tomb of Jesus Christ, which Christians believe was found empty because Christ had been resurrected after death.
“We can save the idea of America,” Jindal said. “Before it’s too late.”
Donald Trump favours retaining foreigners in US
Republican presidential hopeful and real estate tycoon Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was not opposed to H-1B visas - popular with Indian IT professionals - and favours talented foreign students staying in the US after completing their studies and working in the Silicon Valley.
“I am in favour of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want,” Trump said participating in the third Republican presidential debate.
69-year-old Trump, who according to the latest CBS/New York Times poll has lost his frontrunner status, was asked if he was in favour of H-1Bs or if he was opposed to them. Trump was joined by Florida Senator Marco Rubio - despite their past difference on the issue in particular H-1B visas who said that he supports legal migration that attracts the best of the talented people from across the world.
“I am all in favour of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley,” Trump said strongly denying that he ever criticised Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has been lobbying hard to expand H-1B work visa which is highly popular among Indian IT professionals.
“I was not at all critical of him (Zuckerberg). I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he’s complaining about the fact that we’re losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they’re immediately sent out,” he argued.
“As far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, it’s fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It’s fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally,” he said.
The New York-based real estate tycoon had proposed to raise the minimum wage for the H-1B visas, saying such a move would force companies to give IT jobs to unemployed Americans and not cheaper workers from overseas, including India.
Trump also denied having ever said Rubio as a friend of Zuckerberg. Rubio, 44, on his part denied the allegations that he is the tech industry Saviour because he is supporting the move to increase H-1B visas.
Responding to allegations that the tech industry uses H-1B visa program to undercut hiring and wages for highly qualified Americans, Rubio said if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again.
According to Nasscom that represents the Indian software industry, the Indian tech industry supports over 410,000 jobs through their US operations and paid over USD 20 billion in taxes to the US Treasury between FY2011 and FY2015. The industry also contributed over US $375 million during this period to the US Treasury, including helping America secure its borders.
