Rep. Bachmann: Govt. shutdown is an admission of failure
CNN’s John King spoke with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) about the impact of a possible federal government shutdown and funding the military. Part one of this interview aired tonight on John King, USA – 7pm ET. A highlight and two video links from the interview are after the jump. A full transcript is posted at CNN.com.
Government shutdown: What’s closed, what’s open? With the federal government on the verge of a crippling shutdown, many government services and agencies would be closed, suspended or otherwise impacted. Visit CNN.com for a list of offices and agencies that would be affected until congressional leaders and the president reach an agreement on the 2011 budget. You can also sort each column or search for specific information, such as “IRS” or “defense.”
Video of Part II of John King’s Interview with Rep. Michele Bachmann: Bachmann’s 2012 ‘money machine’
MANDATORY CREDIT: JOHN KING, USA
HIGHLIGHT FROM FULL INTERVIEW
THIS IS A RUSH FDCH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, I know you agree with your colleague there, but do you think for the sake of getting a deal now, should Republicans say, let’s get more spending cuts and give up, whether it’s abortion funding or it’s environmental regulation funding, set that aside for the next battle?
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: Well, my opinion is this. I think that we should have clean bill that makes sure that the paycheck gets to the troops on time. After all, now that President Obama has us engaged in a third war in Libya, I think it’s imperative that our troops not pay a price and none of the family’s back home should worry whether or not they’re getting a check.
That’s why, today, I voted no on the bill, because we heard from President Obama this morning, he was going to vote no on the Republican bill. Knowing that, I think it’s important that we do what I think 100 percent of Congress should be able to vote for, and that’s ensure full paycheck protection for all of the military.
We need to do that bill alone. That’s just a policy bill, it’s not even a continuing resolution. We should pass that bill and at least take the troops off the table. From there, we can go back and fight about all the other portions of this appropriations, but I think the troops should not be a political football. That should not be a game.
KING: I can feel my BlackBerry vibrating with the tweets I will get, the angry tweets from the left with what I’m about to say here, and I’m going to say that you have taken what I will describe as a reasonable position in the middle of this, essentially — and tell me if I’m reading it wrong — that the Republicans should cut the best deal they can get now in an argument that is about billions of dollars because you have a much bigger fight just ahead that’s about some huge policy questions and about cutting trillions of dollars. Is that your position?
BACHMANN: Yes. My position is that we need to have the fight on Obamacare. And from the very beginning, I’ve said that we have got to have that fight. I think it is a crime against Democracy because Speaker Pelosi and President Obama failed to even help the members of the House and the members of the Senate, much less the American people.
A member casts a vote for the Obamacare bill, they also would be voting to spend a 105 billion. You’re listen — you’re viewers know, John, that we’ve been fighting over about $61 billion in savings to the taxpayers. Well, that doesn’t even include the 105 billion that was just recently spent or appropriated to implement Obamacare.
It’s my opinion that that money should be given back because it was passed fraudulently. No one knew that money was there.
So I think that we should be fighting about that. We’re not taking up that fight right now. I voted no on the bill because, again, President Obama said he was going to veto this current bill, and I think let’s make sure that the troops are fully — their paychecks are fully funded now. Make sure that that’s done, and then from there let’s get to the rest of this.
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