Archive for the ‘Michele Bachmann’ Category

Message from Michele Bachmann
The Hollywood elite have been on the attack this week, falsely berating our campaign for President and our supporters.

On Tuesday, while on The View, Whoopi Goldberg spewed senseless accusations aimed at our campaign. Her comments were not only incorrect, but wrongly attacked my stance on single parents. As the daughter of a single parent, I learned firsthand the difficulties of growing up with one parent. However, it was from my strong and independent mother I learned when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
I am proud of my record and I refuse to allow liberals like Whoopi Goldberg to bully our campaign. This is yet another example of how the liberal Democrat establishment has put a target on my campaign for defeat. They’ll say and do anything. The comments from Whoopi Goldberg have hit a new low and I must have the resources to defend myself and fight back.

Liberals across the country believe if they defeat our campaign, the Tea Party movement will be eliminated. I need your support to defend myself and our shared constitutional values right away.
I thank you once more for your friendship and support.

by Javier Manjarres

Appearing at the Club for Growth Economic Summit in Manalapan, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann levied some serious allegations at President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi regarding the manner in which they effectively hid $105 billion dollars in future funding during the passage of the now unconstitutionally-held Obamacare federal health care law.  Instead of respecting the right of future Congresses to determine how much money should be spent on the law, Reid and Pelosi included several years of current and future appropriations for ObamaCare- a decision that almost certainly was made knowing what fate awaited Democrats if they were to pass such an unpopular law.

“This is one of the most egregious deceptions in modern times. ” – Michele Bachmann

Bachmann contends that the $105 billion has already been appropriated to the HHS Secretary Sebelius for ObamaCare through FY2019- it’s probable that a good chunk of that figure would be allocated towards those so-called ”freebies” that President Obama is forcing insurance companies to give its customers in order to convince them just how magical and “free” ObamaCare is.  In the wake of the Obama Administration’s near borderline contempt of a federal district court ruling that declared ObamaCare unconstitutional,  the pre-emptive $105 billion in funding is yet another potential stumbling block for those who wish to defund and ultimately repeal the law.

Now Congresswoman Bachmann is throwing down the gauntlet against her own leadership.  In a direct challenge to Speaker John Boehner, Bachmann stated that if there is no language in the forthcoming continuing resolution that explicitly defunds ObamaCare, she and many other of her colleagues will not support that continuing resolution because it is only delaying a decision on the defunding of ObamaCare.

“They will not give him (Boehner) the vote unless he includes our language to defund ObamaCare with current money, future money, or past money, including the $105 billion that’s already been allocated. We will not give him our vote, so we are telling Boehner to draw the line in the sand.”

 

 

Posted by Brian Montopoli

Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann on Tuesday reintroduced the “Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act,” a bill to repeal a 2007 law mandating that incandescent light bulbs be phased out.

“The government has no business telling an individual what kind of light bulb to buy,” she said in a news release Wednesday. “In 2007, Congress overstepped its bounds by mandating that only ‘energy efficient’ light bulbs may be sold after January 1, 2012. This mandate has sweeping effects on American families and businesses and needs serious consideration before taking effect.”

Bachmann says the mandate should only stay in place is (1) there is proof that alternate bulbs save consumers money, (2) there is proof that alternate bulbs significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions and (3) that it’s shown that alternate bulbs “would not lead to a health risk for consumers, particularly those in hospitals, schools, day care centers and nursing homes.”

The bill isn’t the first “nanny state” critique to come from Bachmann, who said with regard to the IRS making breast pumps eligible for tax breaks: “To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump – you want to talk about nanny state, I think we just got a new definition.”

Bachmann, founder of the House Tea Party Caucus and a potential GOP presidential candidate, has also gone after Michelle Obama’s campaign to reduce childhood obesity, which she casts as “very consistent with where the hard left is coming from.”

House Republicans have already taken advantage of their newfound power to dial back some of Democrats’ environmental initiatives. This week, foam plastic coffee cups reappeared in Congressional cafeterias after a four year absence, the result of new Republican Speaker John Boehner moving to reverse much of former Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “Greening the Capitol” initiative.

Pelosi had introduced compostable cups, forks and knives into the Congressional cafeterias, a cause of consternation for some customers who complained that the cutlery broke easily. She also introduced compact florescent lighting, healthier food and energy-efficient vending machines to the Capitol.

The most controversial part of Pelosi’s initiative was the decision to convert the last coal-powered power plant in Washington to cleaner burning fuel, which Boehner has not moved to reverse. The speaker has also not changed any of the anti-smoking rules that Pelosi instituted despite the fact that he is an unapologetic smoker.

 

Michele Bachmann (R.-Minn.) is calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to de-fund Planned Parenthood after the newly elected Republican majority takes charge next month.

“Well, I think one thing that we can do, quite simply, is to withhold funding from Planned Parenthood,” Bachmann said when asked by CNSNews.com what practical steps she believed the in-coming House majority could take to protect unborn babies.

“It wouldn’t mean that Planned Parenthood would go out of existence, because they do have their own independent funding, but what it would mean is that the taxpayer would no longer be funding that,” said Bachmann.

According to Planned Parenthood’s annual report for fiscal year 2008 (the latest one posted on Planned Parenthood’s website), the organization incurred $953.1 million in total expenses that year and received $349.6 million in government grants and contracts. Planned Parenthood also says it performed 324,008 abortions in 2008.

A Government Accountability Office report released in May indicated Planned Parenthood received $657.1 million in federal taxpayer funding (as opposed to state and local taxpayer funding) in the seven years from 2002 to 2008.

Bachmann also said the fact that the health-care reform law signed by President Barack Obama in March provides tax dollars for abortions is one reason Obamacare should “completely defunded.”

“For the first time in American history under Obamacare–socialized medicine–under President Obama, we have federal funding of abortion,” said Bachmann. “President Obama denies that, but we know that it’s already happened in the state of Pennsylvania. And so, therefore, it’s imperative that we in the House completely defund Obamacare so that we no longer force Americans to violate their moral conscience and pay for other people’s abortions.”

As reported by CNSNews.com in July, the federal government has given the state of Pennsylvania $160 million to set up a high-risk insurance pool that will pay for insurance that covers any abortion legal in the state.  This funding contradicted President Obama’s claim at the time he signed the health-care law that an executive order he was issuing would prevent funds disbursed under the bill from paying for abortions.

Bachmann also called for defunding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which has programs in China, where, according to the State Department, the government enforces its one-child-per-couple policy with coercive abortions and sterilizations.

In the six years before President Obama took office, the U.S. government did not fund the UNFPA because of its involvement in China’s coercive population-control program. Soon after his inauguration in 2009, Obama moved to restore funding to UNFPA.  As it now stands, UNFPA receives U.S. tax dollars but the money is supposed to be reduced by the amount the UNFPA uses on its programs in China. Since money is fungible, any U.S. tax dollars the UNFPA receives will involve U.S. taxpayers in helping to fund China’s coercive family planning program so long as UNFPA remains involved in that program.

“The U.S. government suspended funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) from 2002 through 2008 because of the UNFPA’s programs in China, where the State Department determined that coercive family planning practices had occurred,” explained a Congressional Research Service report published in June 2009. “In February 2009, the Obama Administration announced that it would restore U.S. funding for the UNFPA. The Omnibus Appropriations Act, FY2009 (P.L. 111-8), allocated $50 million for the Population Fund. However, none of these funds may be used for a country program in China.”

Bachmann told CNSNews.com the money for the UNFPA should be zeroed out of next year’s spending bills.

Bachmann also said that given the dire fiscal situation the United States is facing, with massive annual deficits and entitlement programs facing insolvency, Congress ought to be able to at least start the nation headed back toward fiscal responsibility by de-funding programs that violate the right to life guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence.

“I think it is incumbent upon us as the members of Congress to let people know–not for the purpose of scaring them–but to let people know the stark fiscal realities that we’re facing right now as a nation,” said Bachmann. “And can’t we at minimum start with defunding things like Planned Parenthood and paying for other’s people abortions that are highly controversial and are violating our principles of the Declaration of Independence, our inalienable right to life. That we can at least agree on, that we should defund that.”

Bachmann is a co-sponsor of a bill proposed by Rep. Mike Pence (R.-Ind.)—“The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act”—that would deny federal family planning funds to any organization “unless the entity certifies that, during the period of such assistance, the entity will not perform, and will not provide any funds to any other entity that performs, an abortion” except in cases where the unborn child to be aborted was conceived by rape or incest or is a threat to the life of the mother.

As the Minnesota Republican strode out of the Capitol the other day and onto a leaf-strewn lawn to soak in the love of a few hundred tea party activists waiting to see her, it was undeniable that there are still plenty of people who believe loud, unruly and tea party are just what Congress needs.

If Speaker-to-be John A. Boehner (Ohio) is the commander of the 240-plus Republicans who will be seated in the 112th Congress, Bachmann is a favorite of many of the voters who elected them.

“You are the people who changed the world the first Tuesday in November,” she told the crowd. “You came out. You rallied. You called. You e-mailed. You faxed. They wouldn’t pick up the phone, and you kept it ringing. . . . There’s a chapter in the American history books written just with your name on it.”

The crowd enthusiastically received the two-term congresswoman’s oft-repeated vow to shrink the federal government, slash the debt, repeal “Obama-care” and restore the constitutional freedoms that an illegitimate president and his “gangster government” are taking from Americans.

“This is insanity economics – insanity politics – and it’s not representative of who we are and this rich, beautiful legacy of 234 years,” Bachmann said.

Here was Bachmann in her element: freed from the confines of the Capitol and its rules and traditions and hierarchy, surrounded by adoring supporters, a rogue elephant with a microphone.

Many of the people on the lawn knew Bachmann from her frequent appearances on cable television. A TV-ready provocateur with a knack for tossing off bomb-mots, she found a vast audience overnight during the 2008 election when she suggested on MSNBC’s “Hardball” that Barack Obama had “anti-American views.”

Her words hit home with the tea party set, and Bachmann became a sensation. She raised more money for her reelection this year than any other House candidate, bringing in more than $11 million, much of it from small donations. Fellow Republicans sought her out to appear on stage with them.

To the conservative faithful, she is a smart and telegenic leader – think Sarah Palin with a law degree – who fearlessly lends her voice and energy to the cause of restoring America’s greatness.

Now, Bachmann, 54, is trying to convert her television popularity into political influence in Washington, offering herself as a den mother to the incoming Republican freshmen.

But it isn’t at all clear that Bachmann’s fame will translate into political respect within the Capitol. Many colleagues consider her to be more of a show horse than a workhorse. She has yet to make a mark with a significant piece of legislation and has a reputation as someone more interested in heading to the green room than hitting the books – advancing her own agenda ahead of her party’s. She even set up a YouTube channel in which fans can view clips of her television appearances.

When she sought the No. 4 leadership spot this month, other Republicans saw no place for her. She bowed out of the race for House Republican Conference chair before the election, clearing the way for the preferred candidate of party elders, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Tex.).

Bachmann’s colleagues, perhaps mindful of her sway with the conservative base, are nonetheless careful not to criticize her publicly.

Asked how Bachmann might factor in the party’s future, Hensarling said: “Michele is a very good friend of mine. She’s got my great respect and admiration, and hers was a very important voice in this election. I have no doubt that Michele Bachmann’s voice will be heard at the leadership table and will be heard across the nation.”

Although they might not consider her leadership material, more than a few colleagues see the value of aligning themselves with the many tea partiers who look to her as a rebel hero. Over the summer, Bachmann founded the Tea Party Caucus and installed herself as its chair. It got plenty of media attention, and more than 50 members signed on.

A mother of five and foster parent to 23, Bachmann, who declined to be interviewed, represents the middle-class northern suburbs of the Twin Cities and the independent, populist farm towns beyond.

Bachmann, who sits on the Financial Services Committee, has been a leading advocate for banning earmarks. She is a skeptic of global warming and has pushed for increased oil and natural gas exploration in the United States, making her a target of environmental groups. She has been a critic of government spending since arriving in Washington, and cutting the federal debt and repealing Obama’s health-care overhaul are some of her top priorities in the new Congress.

For the past two years, Bachmann and a few allies occupied an empty stage in Washington. But with a tea-party-powered freshman class coming to town, that stage is getting awfully crowded.

“The competition for media time and message and leverage has shifted dramatically, and it’s gotten to be more difficult for Michele Bachmann or me or a number of others to be able to convey a message,” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a Bachmann ally and fellow tea party firebrand, said in an interview.

“That’s going to take a while to settle itself, and it might be that this class is so big and so robust and dynamic there won’t be such a demand for a handful of stalwart conservatives to constantly be pounding away.”

But to some incoming freshmen, Bachmann’s fame within the conservative movement and her efforts to help them get elected have made her a role model.

The tea party elected a lot of the freshman class, and she’s been a strong leader in the tea party,” Rep.-elect Billy Long (R-Mo.) said. “I haven’t met her yet, but that’ll come out in the wash, as we say.”

Rep.-elect Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), who won as an underdog against a powerful Democratic veteran in a neighboring district of Bachmann’s, said she was one of his most loyal supporters.

“She’d call up to say, ‘Chip, keep fighting, keep going,’ ” Cravaack said. “Nobody believed in us in the 8th District, and a call from Michele Bachmann meant a lot to me.”

Cravaack called her “a natural-born leader” and said she would be a powerful voice for novice lawmakers. But other freshmen were more careful in their assessments of the polarizing congresswoman.

Others were more cautious. Asked about Bachmann, Rep.-elect Todd Young (R-Ind.) said: “I’m not a political observer, so I can’t offer an opinion on that. Do I see her as a leader? I just don’t know enough about her.”

What Young and his colleagues do know, however, is that Bachmann has a unique following among an untold number of conservatives in their districts and across the country.

In Bachmann’s world, the sun is always shining and the people are always inspiring. She speaks of heavenly magistrates and innate greatness, of giving and sacrifice.

When she talks, her audience responds with passion.

“This was not a group of toothless hillbillies who had no idea what they were talking about,” Bachmann said of the tea party at the recent rally in Washington.

“Noooo!”

“These weren’t angry, hateful people.”

“Noooo!”

“These are the nicest people you’d ever want to meet.”

MICHELE’S NEWS – I have talked to many Americans who feel discouraged because no one in Washington D.C. seems willing to listen. This new Tea Party Caucus will change that sentiment and ensure the voices of the people are carried through the halls of Congress.

The House Tea Party Caucus Members
Todd Akin (MO-2)
Michele Bachmann (MN-6)
Roscoe Bartlett (MD-6)
Joe Barton (TX-6)
Gus Bilirakis (FL-9)
Paul Broun (GA-10)
Michael Burgess (TX-26)
Dan Burton (IN-5)
John Carter (TX-31
John Culberson (TX-7)
John Fleming (LA-4)
Trent Franks (AZ-2)
Phil Gingrey (GA-11)
Louie Gohmert (TX-1)
Pete Hoekstra (MI-2)
Walter Jones (NC-3)
Steve King (IA-5)
Doug Lamborn (CO-5)
Cynthia Lummis (WY)
John Mica (FL-7)
Gary Miller (CA-42)
Jerry Moran (KS-1)
Mike Pence (IN-6)
Tom Price (GA-6)
Pete Sessions (TX-32)
Lamar Smith (TX-21)
Cliff Stearns (FL-6)
Todd Tiahrt (KS-4)
Joe Wilson (SC-2)

In July 2009, our country’s budget deficit topped $1 trillion for the first time in our nation’s history. Our nation’s debt stands near $11.5 trillion – another record for Uncle Sam. Meanwhile, unemployment numbers woefully surpassed administration estimates in June and now sit at 9.5%. And to make matters worse, at the end of May 2009, the U.S. government owed China $801.5 billion.
While the White House has been successful so far in pushing through its agenda – cap and trade national energy tax, the government-run, the $1.1-trillion “stimulus” package, and the $400-billion pork-laden omnibus spending package – our economic options for addressing the recession are being quickly foreclosed.

I am a cosponsor of the REBOUND Act to reduce the deficit and promote real economic recovery. This fiscally responsible measure will recall the $460 billion in unspent “stimulus” moneys while leaving intact the package’s tax relief and unemployment benefits. Furthermore, instead of recycling money repaid from the Wall Street bailout into a new spending slush fund – as the Democrats proposed, the REBOUND Act will require all Wall Street repayments to go exclusively to debt reduction.

Every responsible American family knows that you pay back your loans before you take out new ones. Unfortunately, Washington needs to be reminded. It’s time Congress stop talking about tough decisions and start making them.

“All-of-The Above” Approach to Energy Development
At a time when the American economy is experiencing the worst recession in decades, the last thing Washington should do is continue to restrict the development of cheaper energy or increase taxes on energy consumers.

From reserves in the mountain West to ANWR to the outer-continental shelf, we have untapped resources that can increase energy supply and reduce prices. And, constantly improving technology gives us the ability to explore while preserving our natural heritage for generations.

I have introduced 4 pieces of legislation to free up our energy reserves and promote alternative forms of energy.
The Emergency Energy Cut the Red Tape Now Act, to improve access to offshore drilling and oil shale reserves and streamline the refinery process;



The Fast Track Shale Act, to improve our ability to access shale oil on federal lands;



The Getting Resources Efficiently and Effectively Now (GREEN) Act, to fast track access to American energy resources; and


The Promoting New American Energy Act, to accelerate tax depreciation for investments in technologies like solar, wind and geothermal.

Congress must open up domestic supplies of energy to exploration if we are to reduce your pain at the pump and lead our nation to real energy independence.

And as a member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, I am working to raise awareness and educate lawmakers on technologies to improve energy efficiency and explore alternative forms of energy. We must never stop exploring alternative energy. For instance, France gets 80% of its energy from clean, safe nuclear energy. Yet, the U.S. hasn\’t built a new reactor in three decades. We cannot limit our capacity for ingenuity in the search for energy answers.

Healthcare
American healthcare is the best in the world, but rising costs make it inaccessible to many. In fact, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, between 2000 and 2006, premiums for family coverage increased 87%, making the average annual premium for families more than $12,000.

A big part of the problem has roots in the Tax Code, which favors employer-provided health insurance. My Health Care Freedom of Choice Act would provide full tax deductibility for individual health expenses, including medical care, dental care, long-term care and insurance premiums.

We’ve seen from the other side of the aisle that the White House and Democrat majority in the Congress favor a government-run option that would only contribute to our already record-breaking deficits and high unemployment numbers, all the while putting bureaucrats between you and your doctors and leading to rationed care. Taxing small business is not a smart approach to health care reform. We need to expand access to affordable health care and give families the freedom to choose the health care that fits their needs – without imposing a job-killing tax hike on small businesses and working families.

Men and Women in Uniform
We must support the men and women who protect our nation. That means giving them the tools and equipment they need, as well as the benefits and moral support they have earned. I support tax benefits to help ease the financial burdens our citizen-warriors and their families face and updated, improved GI Bill education benefits.
And we must also support our first responders, who put their lives on the line to protect us in our homes, businesses, and communities. I was proud to have the MN Police and Peace Officers Association endorse my TRACK Sex Offenders Act, which gives law enforcement and officers the tools they need to keep us safe from sexual predators.

Minnesota Values
As a strong advocate for a culture of life, I have earned the support of the Susan B. Anthony List, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), and the National Pro-Life Alliance. My legislation, the Positive Alternatives Act, makes it clear that the pro-life position supports the unborn child and the mother.
As a former foster-mother for 23 children, I have been an advocate for foster families in Congress and was recently appointed to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Advisory Board. In fact, I testified before the House Ways and Means Committee for my School Choice for Foster Kids Act, which would provide some stability for foster children.
In the State Senate, I led the charge to free Minnesota education from the federal No Child Left Behind mandates and in Congress I am continuing my work to return control over education to parents and local educators.
I fully support Minnesota’s hunting and fishing heritage, earning me the backing of the NRA

Michele Marie Bachmann (née Amble; born April 6, 1956)[2] is the United States Representative of Minnesota’s 6th congressional district and member of the Republican Party. The 6th district includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities along with St. Cloud which is 65 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. She is the third woman, and first Republican woman, to represent the state in Congress.
Bachmann served in the Minnesota State Senate from 2001 to 2007. She won her Congressional seat in the 2006 election with 50 percent of the vote, as she defeated Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate Patty Wetterling and the Independence Party’s John Binkowski. She was re-elected in the 2008 election, taking 46 percent of the vote in defeating her DFL challenger, Elwyn Tinklenberg, and Independent Bob Anderson. She is currently running for reelection against Minnesota State Senator Tarryl Clark.
State Senate
In 2000, Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig to secure the GOP endorsement for State Senator for Minnesota District 56. She then defeated Ted Thompson of the DFL and Lyno Sullivan of the Independence party in the General Election and took her seat in the Minnesota State Senate. In 2002, after redistricting, Bachmann was pitted against a fellow incumbent State Senator, Jane Krentz of the DFL. She went on to defeat Krentz in the general election for the seat of the newly drawn District 52.
On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. In 2004, Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for what was billed as a “Minnesota for Marriage” rally. Bachmann’s efforts to get the same-sex marriage ban on a Minnesota referendum ballot in 2004 ultimately failed. Bachmann resurrected her proposal for a same-sex marriage ban amendment in March 2005. In April 2005, the State Senate rejected Bachmann’s proposed amendment again.
In November 2004, Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann as Assistant Minority Leader in charge of Policy for the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005, the Republican Caucus removed Bachmann from her leadership position. Bachmann cited “philosophical differences” with Day as the reason for her ouster.
111th Congress
Committee assignments
• Committee on Financial Services
o Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises
o Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade
o Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Global currency
On March 26, Bachmann introduced legislation that would bar the dollar from being replaced by any foreign currency. Current law prohibits foreign currency from being recognized in the U.S., but Bachmann’s legislation would address concerns relating to the President’s power to make and interpret treaties. Earlier that month at a Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke if they would reject calls for the U.S. to move away from the U.S. dollar and they replied that they would reject such a call.
2010 Census
In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the questions on the 2010 United States Census had become “very intricate, very personal” and that ACORN, a community organizing group that had come under fire the previous year, might be part of the Census Bureau’s door-to-door information collection efforts. She stated, “I know for my family the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home, we won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that.” However, her statement was incorrect as the nonpartisan Politifact watchdog group confirmed that the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Fellow Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, which oversees the census, subsequently asked Bachmann not to boycott the population count.
Along with Congressman Ted Poe (TX-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information solicited by the US Census Bureau. She reiterated her belief that the census asks too many personal questions.
“Armed and dangerous” quote
In March 2009, Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums she was hosting the next month in St. Cloud and Woodbury regarding President Obama’s proposed cap and trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Bachmann said she wanted Minnesotans “armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back.” In the interview, she also stated that Thomas Jefferson had said that “having a revolution every now and then is a good thing.” According to the Star Tribune her quote went viral across the internet. Bachmann’s office quickly clarified that she was speaking metaphorically, meaning “armed with knowledge.”
AmeriCorps
In 2009, Bachmann became a vocal critic of what she characterized as proposals for mandatory public service. Speaking in reference to the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an expansion to AmeriCorps (a federal community service organization), she said in April:
It’s under the guise of — quote — volunteerism. But it’s not volunteers at all. It’s paying people to do work on behalf of government…. I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums.
The original bill called for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program could be established, but that entire section on creating a “Congressional Commission on Civic Service” was stripped from the bill.
In August 2009, political opponents of Bachmann publicized in the local media and the blogosphere what they described as the “ironic” fact that her son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, which is a member of the AmeriCorps program.
Health care
Bachmann contributed to the “death panel” controversy when she read from a July 24 article written by Betsy McCaughey from the floor of the House. Sarah Palin said that her “death panel” remark was inspired by what she called the “Orwellian” opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused him of advocating health care rationing by age and disability.[84] According to PolitiFact and Time magazine, Bachmann’s euthanasia remarks distorted Emanuel’s position on health care for the elderly and disabled. FactCheck.org asserted, “We agree that Emanuel’s meaning is being twisted.” When many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it.
On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democratic health care overhaul proposals that:
“This cannot pass. What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass.”
She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: “Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care,” enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to “take full deductibility of all medical expenses,” including insurance premiums; and tort reform.
Bachmann denounced the government-run health insurance public option, calling it a “government takeover of health care” that would “squeeze out private health insurance”.
Political positions
Education policy
Bachmann supports the teaching of intelligent design in public school science classes. During a 2003 interview on the KKMS Christian radio program “Talk The Walk”, Bachmann said that evolution is a theory that has never been proven, one way or the other. She co-authored a bill that would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the state’s public school science curricula. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota “there is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not…. There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design.”
Fiscal policy
Bachmann opposes minimum wage increases. Bachmann supports increased domestic drilling of oil and natural gas, as well as pursuing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar, and is a strong proponent of nuclear power.
In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage a centralized, state-controlled economy in the United States. She wrote that education laws passed by Congress in 2001, including “School To Work” and “Goals 2000″, created a new national school curriculum that embraced “a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America.” In 2003, Bachmann said that the “Tax Free Zones” economic initiatives of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty were based on the Marxist principle of “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” She also said that the administration was attempting to govern and run centrally-planned economies through an organization called the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an advisory board on economic and workforce policy chaired by Pawlenty.[ She said that health care reform advocates "forg[et] what the Constitution says.”
Prior to her election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed a “no new taxes” pledge sponsored by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. As a state senator, Bachmann introduced two bills that would have severely limited state taxation. In 2003, she proposed amending the Minnesota state constitution to adopt the “Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights” (TABOR).
In 2005, Bachmann opposed Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty’s proposal for a state surcharge of 75 cents per pack on the wholesale cost of cigarettes. Bachmann said that she opposed the state surcharge “100 percent—it’s a tax increase.” She later came under fire from the Taxpayers’ League for reversing her position and voting in favor of the cigarette surcharge.
Foreign policy
Bachmann says in dealing with Iran, diplomacy “is our option”, but that other options, including a nuclear strike, shouldn’t be taken off the table.[
Social issues
Bachmann supports both a federal and state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and any legal equivalents.[ In support of a constitutional amendment she proposed to ban same-sex marriage, Bachmann said that the gay community was specifically targeting children and that “our children… are the prize for this community.” Bachmann has said that people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered suffer from “sexual dysfunction” and “sexual identity disorders.”
In 2006, Bachmann stated that she would vote to permit abortion in cases of rape and incest. In the state senate, Bachmann introduced a bill proposing a constitutional amendment restricting state funds for abortion. The bill died in committee.[