Capitol View: March 6, 2011 Archive

Bachmann stands by Obama criticism

Posted at 2:36 PM on March 6, 2011 by Tom Scheck (9 Comments)
Filed under: Michele Bachmann, U.S. House, U.S. Senate

GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann used the bulk of her time on NBC's Meet the Press this morning to criticize President Obama.

For the first five minutes of the interview, Bachmann kept keying in on her talking point of the week which is that President Obama and Democrats in Congress "snuck in a provision" in the health care law that spends $105 billion to implement the law.

"$105 billion is a lot of money," Bachmann said. "You can't just slip that into a bill and not tell members of the House and not tell members of the Senate."

Bachmann was a member of Congress when the health care bill passed and said in a follow up news release that the funding was "broken up, hidden in various parts of the bill." She said there was no debate or no discussion on the bill and she thinks the funding should be given back. One key question that host David Gregory didn't ask is why Bachmann and others didn't raise this issue when the bill was being debated. The funding and the policy change were also passed into law after months of discussion.

Bachmann also didn't back off her claims that President Obama is running a "Gangster Government." When asked about that claim, Bachmann stood firm.

"I do believe that actions taken by this White House," Bachmann said. "I don't take back my statement on Gangster Government. I think there have actions that have been taken by this government is corrupt."

"Do you think the President has anti-American views?" Gregory asked.

"I answered that question before," Bachmann said. "I have very serious concerns about the president's views and I think the president's actions in the last two years speak for themselves."

Bachmann also said she feels Congress and President Obama should take the advice of military leaders and stay out of the crisis in Libya.

"As Defense Secretary Gates has said, we need to be very careful about putting an army on the ground in the Middle East," Bachmann said. "We are extended now in Afghanistan and Iraq, and for us to consider further penetration at this time -- we need to listen to General Petreaus and what he has to say."

Bachmann, who says she's thinking about running for president in 2012, offered no timetable as to when she'll make a final decision.

You can watch the full interview here.

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