Bachmann says she won't vote to raise debt ceiling

Sioux City Journal ^ | July 26, 2011 | Rod Boshart

[ejdrapes]

Bachmann says she won't vote to raise debt ceiling
By Rod Boshart Journal Des Moines Bureau Sioux City Journal
| Posted: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 5:29 pm
Alex Brandon

ANKENY - GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has a serious spending problem and it's time to cut him off.

Bachmann reiterated her stand that she will not vote to raise the national debt ceiling, but she advocated a temporary fix that would pay the interest on the debt and military salaries as a way to stave off an economically risky U.S. default scenario as an alternative to plans being pushed in Washington that potentially could raise the ceiling to $16.7 trillion.

During a news conference outside an Ankeny restaurant, Bachmann, 55, a three-term Minnesota congresswoman and tea party movement activist, criticized Obama's handling of the nation's debt problem. She indicated she also would not support fellow Republican House Speaker John Boehner's plan to increase the federal borrowing authority -- emergency legislation pending in the House to avert a threatened national default that the White House has threatened to veto.

"This Republican will not vote to raise the debt ceiling. I will not do that. My colleagues will have to make their own conclusions," she told reporters, noting that she has never voted to increase the nation's debt load and that Obama also voted against raising the debt ceiling when he was a U.S. senator.

Bachmann criticized Obama's characterization of the nation's $14.3 trillion debt as "a little credit card debt," saying the Iowans and other Americans she has encountered on the campaign trail want Washington politicians to fix the problem by cutting spending without raising taxes. She said Obama's proposed "balanced" approach uses focus group-tested "code" words that would mean more spending and higher taxes and Americans are not fooled.

"The president wants a $2.4 trillion license to keep spending money and borrowing money that we don't have. The president has a serious spending problem," she said.

Bachmann said negotiators from both political parties who are trying to beat an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt limit or face national default are starting from the wrong premise that the ceiling has to be increased when "what we need is a fundamental restructuring of our economy. That is not happening."

"We've seen this movie play out before. We're promised cuts and they're never realized. The tax increases are always real, but the spending cuts are never real. They're elusory," said Bachmann, who advocated cuts in federal spending and tax rates on "job creators," a repeal of the "Obamacare" overhaul of the health care system and a federal balanced budget amendment as solutions for turning around the nation's economic fortunes.

Bachmann's message resonated with Norma Righi and Sharon Meredith, two Ankeny women who applauded her stance and said they planned to support her in the crucial Aug. 13 Iowa GOP straw poll in Ames.

[ejdrapes]

I listened to the audio of Bachmann's press conference and when she said "what we need is a fundamental restructuring of our economy" she obviously mis-spoke as later in the press conference she said we need to restructure our spending. It's quite clear she meant spending, not economy. Below is the audio of her press conference. I give her props for not budging on refusing to raise the debt ceiling.

Bachmann press conference

[ken21]

good.

[cripplecreek]

As far as I’m concerned we do need to restructure our economy. We’ve been getting by on service and Keynesian thinking for far too long.

We need to return to being a nation of builders and makers.

[Hugin]

If Michele doesn’t win the nomination maybe she can take the Speaker job from Bonehead.

[Rome2000]

How come nobody is pointing out that this communist son of a whore is trying to double the debt since 2006?

[Hugin]

Keynesian thinking

I think that's spelled "Kenyan".

[Iron Munro]

You Go Girl!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks ejdrapes.

[evad]

She won’t vote OR she’ll vote NO.

[so_real]

And another tally goes in the "vote for Bachmann" column.

[evad]

These are all the programs that the new Republican House
has proposed cutting. Read to the end.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
Save America ‘s Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
International Fund for Ireland . $17 million annual savings.
Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.
Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.
Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.
Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.
Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings
Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.
Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.
Exchange Programs for Alaska , Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts . $9 million annual savings
Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.
Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.
FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
Economic Assistance to Egypt . $250 million annually.
U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.
General Assistance to District of Columbia . $210 million annual savings.
Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.
End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.
Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.
IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.
Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.
Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.
Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.
Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings
Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.
Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.
Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.
Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings..
HUD Ph.D. Program.
Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.
TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

[LaybackLenny]

If Michele doesn’t win the nomination maybe she can take the Speaker job from Bonehead.

Is tomorrow too soon?

[jacknhoo]

If she gets the nomination, I will certainly vote for her. If she doesn’t I’ll probably write her in. To date, the best candidate we have.

[Iron Munro]

One reason Social Security Is Going Broke

Video: Elaborate Welfare Housing Project

Elaborate welfare development in Tacoma WA (Salishan) that was built for Illegal Immigrants!
1,325 Homes created for illegals!
Refugee Pay offers them $2,642 per month in SSI benefits, plus Food Stamps, plus Section 8 Housing.
See their expensive new cars in this video.

[ejdrapes]

I'd love to give Boehner the benefit of the doubt, but what an idiot releasing a plan yesterday that he won't even be able to pass. And now the plan is being re-written to get more conservative support.

[ejdrapes]

[Hugin]

I have a dream...

January 2013,

President Palin

Speaker Bachmann

Majority Leader DeMint

Millions of neo-Marxists having nervous breakdowns.

[LaybackLenny]

Now THAT’s what I’m talkin’ about! Talk about your DREAM TEAM.

[Cobra64]

Is that available in a spreadsheet format?

[familyop]

That will make current favored constituents on all sides her enemies (public employees and pensioners from all levels of government), but it doesn’t matter. In the default process, most of them will be laid off and out of money and time for politics. I give her credit for her courage.