President [[George W. Bush]] appointed Jindal to serve as Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2001. In that position, he served as the principal policy advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He later resigned from the position in 2003 to return to Louisiana and run for Govenor. In that race, Jindal went from being a relatively unknown candidate for Governor, to receiving the most votes in the primary election. However, with 48 percent of the vote in the runoff, he lost the election.
In 2004 he was elected to the 109th United States Congress representing the First District of Louisiana. In Congress he was elected Freshman Class President and served on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the House Committee on Homeland Security, and the House Committee on Resources. He also served as Assistant Majority Whip. He was re-elected to Congress in November 2006 with 88 percent of the vote majority.
===Gubernatorial highlights===
On January 22, 2007, Jindal announced his candidacy for governor. Polling data showed him with an early lead in the race, and he remained the favorite throughout the campaign. He defeated eleven opponents in the nonpartisan blanket [[primary]] held on October 20, including two prominent [[Democratic Party|Democrats]]. He went on to win the gubernatorial election with 54 percent of the vote and carried Jindal was criticized by [[liberal]]s for his plans to reject portions of economic stimulus money to extend unemployment benefits to those who would not ordinarily qualify for the funds.<ref>"Jindal rejects unemployment money (for those who normally wouldn't get it) in the stimulus," ''The New Orleans Times-Picayune,'' date missing.</ref> Jindal was criticized for a speech he gave in response to President [[Barack H. Obama]], when Jindal questioned the use of some stimulus money, including volcano monitoring.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,500267,00.html|title="Geologist Erupts at Jindal's Volcano Question"|publisher=FOX News Channel|date=Undated}}</ref>
In his first term as governor, with the political consultant [[Timmy Teepell]] as chief of staffand [[Jimmy Faircloth]] as executive counsel, Jindal obtained passage of legislation to assist in the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He also obtained the passage of legislation to bring significant offshore energy revenues to Louisiana and legislation to prevent the Federal Emergency Management Agency from taxing certain recovery grants as income.
[[Image:Jindal2.jpg|thumbnail|right|250px|Governor Jindal with his wife]]