Michele Bachmann RSS Articles

Bachmann gathers “Valentines for Veterans”

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) read through some of the "Valentines for Veterans" that were made by elementary school children in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District this weekend at her Woodbury office. Bachmann’s office notified schools about the "Valentines for Veterans" project in January and facilitated the pick-up of several hundred valentines across the district last week.

"What a precious way to remember our veterans on this very special day," Bachmann said. "I’m so grateful that so many teachers and students took the time to thank and honor the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our country."

The valentines will be delivered to the St. Cloud Veteran’s Administration Medical Center on February 12 as part of National Salute to hospitalized Veterans Week.
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So Much for Fiscal Responsibility

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Members of the House of Representatives had a no-brainer in front of them today - they should have voted “NO” to raise our debt limit as a nation by $1.9 trillion to a whopping $14 trillion. Instead of looking at ways to restrain their spending - like most Americans are doing right now - Congress has decided to saddle more federal debt to the backs of American workers. My constituents are strapped enough as it is and that's why I voted no on this irresponsible measure. A vote to raise the national debt limit without significantly reigning in spending is Washington at its worst.

More Money for ACORN?

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Nearly $4 billion dollars could be made available to ACORN or other similar organizations in President Obama’s 2011 fiscal year budget proposal, released this week. Through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Community Development Block Grant program will have $3.99 billion to award to state and localities, who in turn can pass the money to ACORN or other groups.

According to Matthew Vadum writing for The American Spectator, they would be part of a “good old-fashioned graft, an area in which ACORN has great expertise.”

The article also references the Manhattan Institute’s Steven Malanga, who called the Community Development Block Grant program, “America’s worst urban program.” He noted that the money “it has lavished on poor neighborhoods has had little impact, because nothing in the funding formula requires grantees to show that they’re actually improving things. Few ever ‘graduate’ from the program, having achieved their mission. Instead, the funding spigot stays open, year after year.”

As the President’s budget is debated, it is imperative ACORN’s corrupt actions are not forgotten to ensure they are not made eligible for any of the nearly $4 billion in Community Development Block Grants.

Bachmann Statement on President Obama's Proposed Budget

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN-06) issued the following statement regarding the President’s FY 2011 budget:

“Last week, Republicans pointed out that freezing spending at record levels does nothing to reduce the nation’s deficit and debt or address the massive spending increases we saw in 2009 in the long run. This week, President Obama released a budget that will boost the deficit to a record $1.6 trillion next year alone. That’s an astonishing 10.6% of GDP, the largest deficit as a share of the economy since World War II. Worse yet, the budget doubles the debt in 5 years and triples it by fiscal year 2019.

"We simply cannot expect the path of spending bills, stimulus packages and useless commissions to recover our weakened economy. If President Obama were listening to the American people, he would take the budgeting of our bloated government seriously and look for options beyond more spending financed by taxes on businesses and hard working Americans. The American people are not buying this budget publicity stunt as an actual solution to Washington’s spending addiction.”

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Spending Freeze? Yea Right...

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

President Obama said this morning upon the release of his $3.8 trillion budget proposal:

We simply cannot continue to spend as if deficits don't have consequences; as if waste doesn't matter; as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like Monopoly money; as if we can ignore this challenge for another generation. We can't.

Unfortunately, the budget sent to Congress for the 2011 fiscal year does not support the President’s rhetoric.

President Obama claims to make tough cuts in his proposal while still addressing unemployment and funding for national defense, but his budget forecasts a record-breaking deficit of $1.6 trillion. This startling deficit is 10.6 percent of our country’s gross domestic product. Not good.

Included in the President’s budget are calls for a new jobs bill – with the price tag of $100 billion dollars. The President claims spending money will ease the 10 percent jobless rate. We can look to the $787 stimulus package, passed last February, to see money is not the solution we need.

As Americans watch their own wallets, they likewise want to see true fiscal responsibility from the President. Sadly, this administration will “continue to spend as if deficits don’t have consequences; as if waste doesn’t matter,” affecting generations to come.

Bachmann Reacts to the State of the Union

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Following President Obama’s State of the Union Address this evening, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) released the following statement:

"President Obama finally got the message- stop spending! But he’s a day late and a dollar short. Freezing non-security discretionary funding now will freeze it at the highest funding levels we’ve ever seen. This “freeze” only applies to 12% of the budget, disregards massive new spending programs enacted in the last year and ignores mandatory funding, which is where most of the changes need to be made. The President spent more money in his first year in office than any other president in history, and simply stopping now does absolutely nothing to lower the amount of national debt that gets passed to you and me, our children and our grandchildren in the form of increased and new taxes.

"We’ve maxed out our debt limit, scared off our creditors and burdened future generations with unnecessary debt. And the President has yet to come clean on jobs numbers, utilize our entire energy resources, or lower the cost of health care in this country.

"The bottom line is that we cannot borrow, spend and bail our way back to a growing economy."

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Bachmann Unveils Declaration of Health Care Independence

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN-06), along with several Republican colleagues, formally unveiled and signed today the Declaration of Health Care Independence at the U.S. Capitol.

“The Declaration of Health Care Independence is a commitment to protect the rights of the American people to make their own health care decisions, reduce bureaucratic red-tape, decrease intergenerational debt, and includes 10 common-sense principles that must be included in future health care reforms,” said Bachmann. “This is not a bill, but rather a roadmap of the rules going forward.

“I believe the majority of Washington supports these 10 principles, and I invite members on both sides of the aisle to sign the Declaration so we can move forward and implement reforms that are good for the American people. The people have spoken, and they have overwhelmingly rejected what’s been put forth so far. It’s time to get back to the drawing board,” said Bachmann.

A copy of the Declaration of Health Care Independence is below:

Declaration of Health Care Independence

In order to retain the Blessings of Liberty as secured to us by our Founding Fathers and as expressed in our Constitution, We the People reject the imposition upon us of a new, Washington-controlled system of government-run health care. We demand Constitutional protection of the right to make our own health decisions and our own health care choices free of government denials, bureaucratic red-tape, and greater intergenerational debt.

A Washington takeover of American health care will

1) Deny fundamental personal and economic liberties and indisputably violate the Principle of Limited Government as established by the Constitution;
2) Impose increased costs and taxes upon individuals, families, and businesses, as well as taxpayers at the federal, state, and local levels;
3) Irreparably cripple the American economy, at the cost of jobs, businesses, productivity, and quality of life;
4) Create an inescapable new tax by imposing individual and employer mandates;
5) Institutionalize a massive, ever-expanding federal bureaucracy that is impersonal and impractical;
6) Empower bureaucrats to interfere in the doctor-patient relationship, undermine the quality of care, limit choice, and increase the cost of health care.

We have appealed to the decency of the elected majority to respect the rights of all Americans, but their leaders have been deaf to the Voice of the People. We are appalled by their cavalier disregard of the Constitution and of the demands of the People. We are repulsed by their blatant political bribes and kickbacks.

We, therefore, the People and Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, do solemnly Publish and Declare that health care reform, as a matter of principle must

1) Protect as inviolate the vital doctor-patient relationship;
2) Reject any addition to the crushing national debt heaped upon all Americans;
3) Improve, rather than diminish, the quality of care that Americans enjoy;
4) Be negotiated publically, transparently, with genuine accountability and oversight, and be free from political favoritism;
5) Treat private citizens at least as well as political officials;
6) Protect taxpayers from funding of abortion and abortion coverage;
7) Reject all new mandates on patients, employers, individuals, or states;
8) Prohibit expansion of taxpayer funded health care to those unlawfully present in the United States;
9) Guarantee Equal Protection under the law and the Constitution;
10) Empower, rather than limit, an open and accessible marketplace of health care choice and opportunity.

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Remembering the Holocaust

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Today on this annual Holocaust Memorial Day, we pause to remember all those tragically lost in the Holocaust. In this horrible blemish on our world’s history, millions were persecuted and put to death. We also must take time to remember the survivors of the Holocaust who are forever affected by the nightmare of those events. Their strength to carry on and expose the atrocities of the Holocaust is to be commended.

This Holocaust Memorial Day marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz. On January 27, 1945 the Soviet Army entered the camp, near the prewar German-Polish border, and freed the remaining prisoners. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum it is estimated at least 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz alone, with a total of 1.3 million people deported there between 1940 and 1945.

We must let today serve as a reminder of what evil dictators can do when they go unchecked. We also must remain aware of what is being said against our nation and against our allies around the world. Never again can a tyrant or dictator be allowed to seek the destruction of human life like was witnessed in the Holocaust.

Bachmann and Other House/Senate Republicans to Unveil Declaration of Health Care Independence

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN-06), along with House and Senate Republicans, will formally unveil the Declaration of Health Care Independence on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. in HVC-201. The Declaration of Health Care Independence is a commitment to protect the rights of the American people to make their own health decisions, reduce bureaucratic red-tape, decrease intergenerational debt, and includes 10 common-sense principles that must be included in future health care reforms.

            Who: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and other House & Senate Republicans
            What: Press Conference to formally unveil the Declaration of Health Care Independence
            When: Wednesday, January 27th @ 2:30 p.m.
            Where: U.S. Capitol, HVC-201

*Due to security for the State of the Union, the Capitol Visitor’s Center is closed to the public at noon. Only credentialed media, congressional staff, and Members of the House and Senate will be permitted.

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Now They Want to Stop Spending?

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT

In a game-changing announcement two days before President Obama’s State of the Union address, the White House has called for a freeze in discretionary spending in 2011. As a constant advocate to rein in government spending, I am pleased that President Obama has publicly acknowledged the need to cut spending—unfortunately, he does not seem to take the task too seriously.

President Obama’s announcement comes only after he increased 2010’s spending levels by 13 percent. Announcing a freeze after first increasing your budget is like touting one’s fiscal restraint when they have cut up maxed out credit cards. Even if spending is frozen or reduced in the 12 annual appropriation bills, that does not guarantee emergency measures, similar to the so-called stimulus bill will not be introduced and in-turn, be added to the deficit.

In fact, he seems to have failed to garner support from his own party. According to The Hill, several House Democrats immediately rejected the idea. Citing that this change may actually hurt the economy, Congressional Democrats would rather see the White House spend more federal dollars than less. In the slight chance Congress actually follows the President’s suggestions, only $250 billion will be saved in 10 years. That’s less than half the amount of the so-called stimulus package and less than one-third the cost of the Democrats’ health care legislation.

It is not too late. Only a fraction of the stimulus funds have actually been spent and health care seems to be all but dead in Congress. I welcome the President’s spending freeze, but I challenge the Administration not to stop there. If the President is serious about controlling our national debt, he needs to readdress his agenda and stop pushing a national energy tax or government take-over of health care.