Michele Marie Bachmann ( ; nÃÆ' Â © e Amble ; 6 April 1956) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 6th congress district from 2007 to 2015. The district includes several northern suburbs of Twin Cities, and St. Cloud.
Bachmann is a candidate for Republican nomination in the 2012 US presidential election, winning the Ames Straw Poll in August 2011 but out in January 2012 after ending in sixth place in the Iowa caucus. He previously served in the Minnesota Senate and was the first Republican woman to represent the country in Congress. She is a supporter of the Tea Party movement and founder of House Tea Party Caucus.
Video Michele Bachmann
Early life, education, and early career
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into the Norwegian Lutheran Democratic family"; his family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when he was 13 years old. After his parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by his mother, Arlene Jean (nÃÆ' Â © e Johnson), who worked at First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; a new marriage produces families with nine children.
He graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent a summer working at Beieri kibbutz in Israel. In 1978, he graduated from Winona State University with B.A.
In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of Law School O. W. Coburn, then became part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom he described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christian and the Constitution , which argued that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should be one again. In 1986 Bachmann received his J.D. from Oral Roberts University. She is a member of the final class of ORU law school graduates, and is part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved ORU's law school library to what is now the University of the Bupati.
In 1988, Bachmann received his LL.M. degree in tax law from William & amp; Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 he worked as a lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He left the IRS to become a full-time mother when his fourth child was born.
Maps Michele Bachmann
Personal life
Family
Michele Marie Amble was born in Waterloo, Iowa on April 6, 1956, to Norwegian-American parents David John Amble (1929-2003) and "Arlene" Jean Amble (nÃÆ' Â © e Johnson) (born 1932). A pair of great-grandparents, Melchior and Martha Munson, left Sogndal in Norway and arrived in Wisconsin in 1857. He was still a young girl when his father, an engineer, moved his family to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. She was 14 years old when her parents filed for divorce. Her father remarried and moved to California, and young Michele and her mother Jean moved to Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried three years later to become a widower of Raymond J. LaFave.
In 1978, he married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and Ph.D. from the Union Graduate School, whom he met when they were students. After she received her LL.M. in taxation from William & amp; Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a city of 18,000 near Saint Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center that provides gay conversion therapy. Bachmann and her husband have five children: Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. Bachmann told a town hall meeting in 2011 that he suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event he said formed his pro-life outlook.
Bachmann and her husband have also provided care to 23 other children, all teenage girls. The Bachmanns was licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time; the last child arrived in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who are patients in the University of Minnesota program. The Bachmann House is legally defined as a nursing home, with daily replacement rates per child from the state. Some girls stay a few months, others are more than a year old.
She is the former queen of beauty contests.
Citizenship
In May 2012, it was reported that Marcus Bachmann had signed up for Swiss citizenship and once it was settled, Michele Bachmann automatically became a citizen as well. The Bachmanns and their three youngest children were granted citizenship on March 19, 2012. They qualify for this under Swiss citizenship laws because Marcus Bachmann's parents are Swiss. Bachmann denied that he or her husband had applied for Swiss citizenship, saying that her husband had become a dual citizen as the son of Swiss immigrants, and that he automatically obtained Swiss citizenship under Swiss law at the time of her marriage in 1978. But in May 2012 , when a Swiss Television reporter told him, "I understand you just got Swiss citizenship," Bachmann's reply was: "Yes, we made it." Marcus Bachmann did not register marriage with the Swiss authorities until 2012. Within two days after Bachmann's first dual citizenship report, he announced that he had written to the Swiss consulate asking for Swiss citizenship to be withdrawn.
Religion
Bachmann is a longtime member of the Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They have not attended the church for more than two years. Recently, according to friends, Bachmanns began attending Eagle Brook Church, an Evangelical Protestant Baptist church closer to their home.
Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "great influence" in his life and her husband, especially the film series How Should We Lived? . He also described the Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Cultural Cultivation by Nancy Pearcey as an "extraordinary" book. Journalist Ryan Lizza argues that Bachmann's world view was strongly influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence. Others criticize Lizza's article, especially in relation to Schaeffer with Dominionism. The religious writer Sarah Posner widely agrees with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann through the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law.
Business
Bachmann and her husband have a Christian counseling practice, Bachmann & amp; Associates. The clinic is run by her husband, who has a Ph.D. with "concentration in clinical psychology" from the Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota. The clinic received nearly $ 30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $ 137,000 in federal payments and $ 24,000 in government grants for counselor training. When asked about the subject in an interview, Bachmann pointed out that she and her husband did not benefit from the taxpayers' burden, saying, "The money going to the clinic actually trains money for employees". Marcus Bachmann denied allegations that Bachmann & amp; Partners provide conversion therapy, controversial psychological treatment rejected by the American Psychological Association that tries to turn homosexual into heterosexual. A former clinic client of Bachmann and a hidden camera investigator with activist group Truth Wins Out says that clinical therapists are involved in such practices, but Mariah Blake's columnist from The Nation suggested hidden cameras. Researchers may intentionally provoke a therapist to say something controversial. In subsequent interviews with Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann does not deny that he or any other counselor at his clinic uses this technique but says they do so only at the request of the client.
In a personal financial disclosure report for 2006 to 2009, Bachmann reported earning $ 32,500 to $ 105,000 from a farm owned at the time by his ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. Agriculture received $ 260,000 in federal subsidies and disasters between 1995 and 2008. Bachmann said that in 2006-2009, her husband acted as guardian of the farm for his dying father and so, because "very cautious", he claimed the farm as income in financial disclosure, even though his father-in-law took advantage of agriculture during that period.
Early political activism
Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family, but he said he became a Republican during his senior year at Winona State. She told the Star Tribune Minneapolis that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 Burr novel: "She kinda mocks the Founding Fathers and I just think, I just remember reading books, put it on my lap, looked out the window and thought, "You know what? I do not think I'm a Democrat. I must be a Republican. ' "
While still a Democrat, he and his ancestor Marcus were inspired to join the pro-life movement by the Christian documentary film Francis Schaeffer in 1976 How Should We Lived Then? They pray outside the clinic and engage in roadside counseling, pro-life protest activity in which activists approach people entering the abortion clinic in an attempt to prevent women from aborting. Since then, Bachmann has made a statement supporting the pavement counseling. Bachmann was a supporter of Jimmy Carter in 1976, and he and her husband worked in his campaign. During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disillusioned with his liberal approach to public policy, support for authorized abortion and economic decisions he held responsible for rising gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, he chose Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign.
His political activism gained media attention on pro-life protests in 1991. He and about 30 other pro-life residents went to a Ramsey County Council meeting where $ 3 million in receipts were to go build a morgue for the area in St. Louis. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Hospital Area). The Medical Center has an abortion and hires pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann attended the meeting to protest the public tax money sent to the hospital; speaking to the Star Tribune, he said that "basically, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I do not like the difference".
In 1993, he and other parents started the New K-12 Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. The parents at school complained and the school superintendent warned Bachmann that the school violated state law. Six months after Bachmann founder of the school resigned and Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing schools to defend its charter. Bachmann began speaking against a set of educational standards mandated by the state, which pushed him into politics.
Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-of-Work policy. In the 1999 column he writes: "School-to-Work transforms the basic mission and objectives of K-12 academic education from traditional broad-based academic studies aimed at maximizing individual intellectual achievement.Instead, School-to-Work utilizes school days to promote acquisitions workplace skills of children, see children as trainees to improve economic productivity. "
In November 1999, he and four other Republican candidates, as "Slate of Five," in the election of the Stillwater school board. Fifth lost.
Minnesota Senate
In 2000, Bachmann defeated 18-year-old Gary Laidig for Republican nomination for State Senator for Minnesota District 56. In November 2000 elections, he defeated Ted Thompson of the Democratic Democratic Labor Party (DFL) and Lyno Sullivan of the Independence Party Minnesota, to win seats. Two years later, in November 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, State Senator Jane Krentz of DFL, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. At the office, Bachmann's agenda focuses on cultural conservative issues against abortion and gay marriage.
Constitutional changes to marriage are equally
On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would forbid states to legally recognize same-sex marriage. In 2004, Bachmann and the coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Bachmann's attempt to place the marriage amendments to the referendum vote in 2004 ultimately failed. He revived his proposal in March 2005, but it was stalled indefinitely on the Senate committee in April.
Assistant Minority Leader
In November 2004, Minority Leader Republican Senator Dick Day appointed Bachmann as Assistant Minority Leader in charge of Policy for the Caucus Republican Senate. In July 2005, the Republican Caucus removed him from his leadership position. Bachmann said that his disagreement with Hari over his anti-tax stance was the reason for his dismissal.
AS. House of Representatives
From January 2007 to January 2015 Bachmann represents the 6th congressional district in Minnesota, which includes the northern outskirts of Twin Cities and St. Louis. Cloud. She was the first Republican woman elected to the US House of Minnesota.
110th Congress
Overseas
In January 2007, a resolution was approved in the House of Representatives against President George W. Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq. Bachmann chose "No". But before endorsing the proposed wave, Bachmann called for a full hearing, saying, "The American people deserve to hear and understand the benefits of increasing the presence of US troops in Iraq.The increase in troop presence can be justified if it will lead to quick conclusions to difficult conflicts." hesitant to give strong support, called the hearing "a good first step in explaining to the American people the way to victory in Iraq". When pressed, he said he did not come to a conclusion on the matter, saying, "I do not believe we have all the information in front of us." As a member of Congress that's why I want to go to Iraq as soon as I can. front of me. "
Members of the Congress delegate
In July 2007, Bachmann joined a Congress delegation visiting Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. Bachmann met briefly (due to security concerns) with US personnel in the Green Zone and after returning he said he was "encouraged by progress reports from Crocker, General David Petraeus and other personnel in Iraq related to the surge". He said the wave "has no chance of being in place long enough to offer criticism about how it works. (General Petraeus) says al-Qaeda in Iraq is out of the plan and we want to stay that way, the spike is only valid for a week or more. "
Bachmann also spoke of a delegation's visit to Islamabad to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz at the same time as the Islamic fundamentalist siege at the Lal Masjid mosque elsewhere in the city. He reported that "The [US Legislator] Group has to travel in armored vehicles and is constantly accompanied by the Pakistani military... We can all see very closely and personally what it feels like to be in an area where battles are happening We continue to feel like we need security. "Bachmann told reporters after returning that" the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Britain and Pakistan justify the US military presence in Iraq. " He said, "We do not want to see al-Qaida getting a presence in the US Al-Qaeda does not seem to show signs of surrender We must remember it."
Higher education
On July 11, 2007, Bachmann voted against the University's Cost and Reduction Act, which increased Pell's maximum grant from $ 4,310 to $ 5,200, lowering interest rates on subsidized student loans to 3.4 percent from 6.8 percent, increasing borrowing limits up to $ 30,500 from $ 7500, the displeasure of married students applying for a joint tax return, provides better payment terms to students who fail to use their education to achieve financial welfare and support the public sector of private sector workers with the benefit of more favorable remuneration. Supporters of the bill say "it will allow more students to attend college". Bachmann said that his opposition was because "it made students and taxpayers fail with gimmicks, hidden fees and inappropriately targeted assistance." This does not contain any serious reforms of the existing program, and it benefits the expensive government-run, nonprofit and commercial. " The bill was passed by the House of Representatives and signed by President Bush.
Energy and the environment
During the summer of 2008, when national gasoline prices rose to more than $ 4 per gallon, Bachmann became a leading congressional advocate for increased exploration of domestic oil and natural gas at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf. He joins ten other Republican members and media members in the Congressional Energy Tour to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado and Alaska. The trip was organized by Arctic Power, an Alaska lobby group that supports the development of ANWR. The purpose of the trip is to receive live reports on emerging renewable energy technologies and the prospect of increasing domestic and natural gas production in Alaska, including ANWR.
Bachmann said that global warming is "all voodoo, nonsense, law, hoax" and has been called "one of the hardest GOP global warming skeptics". He said that carbon dioxide is a "natural natural product" and the beneficial gas needed by plant life. He states that because life requires carbon dioxide and that is part of the planet's life cycle, it can not be dangerous. In a statement he made on the floor of the House on Earth Day, April 22, 2009, Bachmann declared he opposed the law on climate and trade restrictions, stating: "Carbon dioxide is not a dangerous gas, it is harmless gas, natural carbon dioxide, dangerous... We are told that we must reduce this natural substance to create an arbitrary reduction in something that occurs naturally on earth. "
In March 2008 Bachmann introduced H.R. 849, Freedom of Choice Law of Light. The bill will lift two sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act 2007 signed by George W. Bush. The Energy Act 2007 mandates energy efficiency and labeling standards for incandescent and fluorescent lamps. The Bachmann bill will require the Government Accountability Office to show that changes to fluorescent lamps will have "clear economic, health and environmental benefits" before enforcing lighting efficiency regulations. The bill will allow these standards to remain in place if general finance inspectors find they will lead to consumer savings, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and pose no health risk to consumers (such as the risk posed by the presence of mercury in fluorescent lamps). The bill languished in the House and became inactive at the end of the 110th Congress. Bachmann reintroduced the bill in March 2011.
Lawyer reform
On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Credit and Debit Card Acceptance Clause (H.R. 4008) Law into Law. The bipartisan bill, which Bachmann sponsored by congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), Wiped out legal remedies for violating federal law in 2003 that prohibit merchants from printing consumer credit card numbers and expiration dates on sales receipts, to end class- action lawsuits which is intended for businesses that violate the law.
Financial sector
Bachmann opposes both versions of Wall Street's bailout bill for the American financial sector.
He voted against the $ 700 billion proposed first bailout of financial institutions, which failed to qualify, 205-228. He also advocated breaking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and blocking executives from excessive compensation or gold parachutes, and advocated a plan that would suspend the mark-to-market accounting rules and suspend capital gains taxes.
Automotive industry
American automakers approached Congress to ask for a loan of about $ 15 billion to remain in operation in 2009. Bachmann criticized the bill, fearing that the initial amount of money would be followed by the next without companies making changes to revive their business. Bachmann supports alternative rescue for American automotive companies and other automotive industries that will set benchmarks to reduce their debt and renegotiate labor supply and have provided financial assistance as temporary insurance rather than taxpayer-financed bailouts.
Call for Barack Obama media exposure and congressman
On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews to support Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that brought the National Congressional Society 6th National Congregation's attention. During the interview he criticized Barack Obama for his relationship with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying "... Ã, we usually associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems to question what true Barack Obama's beliefs are, values ​​and minds... I am deeply concerned that he [Barack Obama] may have an anti-American view. "He notes the bombing campaign designed by Bill Ayers before discussing his relationship with Obama, arguing that" Bill Ayers is not an average American. want to see their president have a relationship with. " Matthews followed up by asking "But he [Obama] is a Senator from the state of Illinois, he's one of the Congressmen you suspect of anti-American.How many people in the United States Congress do you think is anti-American? You've suspected Barack Obama, is he alone or someone else? "Bachmann replied," What I am saying is that the news media should do the exporÃÆ'Â © and look around... I hope they will... I hope the American media will take a great view on the views of people people in Congress and find out if they're pro-American, or anti-American, I think people would love to see such exposure. "
The five Democrats of the Minnesota congressional delegation - Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar - issued a joint statement in which they questioned his ability to "work bipartisically to put our country's interests first in this crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson say his comments have influenced their decision to support Obama as president.
Bachmann raised the interview before business and Republican leaders during the campaign stopped at St. Cloud, Minnesota, on October 21, 2008. He stated that he never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a false remark, I say comments that I will take back.I am not, nor is it, questioning the patriotism of Barack Obama... I am not saying that Barack Obama anti-American also does not believe that Barack Obama is anti-American... [But] I am very concerned about Barack Obama's view I do not believe that socialism is a good thing for America. "In March 2010, Bachmann said," I say I have very serious concerns that Barack Obama has an anti-American view - and now I look like Nostradamus "while speaking at a fundraiser for Susan B. Anthony's List. A year later, in March 2011, Bachmann was questioned by Meet the Press if he still believed that Obama had an un-American view. He replied, "I believe that this government action - has become a symbol of people who are not based on true American values." Pressed for clarification, he said, "I've answered that question beforehand I say I have very serious concerns about the president's view."
111th Congress
Global currency
On March 26, 2009, following a comment by China proposing the adoption of a global reserve currency, Bachmann introduced a resolution calling for an amendment to the Constitution to deter the dollar from being replaced by foreign currency. Current legislation prohibits foreign currency to be recognized in the US, but Bachmann expressed concerns relating to presidential powers to create and interpret agreements. Earlier in the month, at the Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked Finance Minister Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they would reject calls for the US to stay away from the US dollar and they replied that they would.
Census 2010
In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the question of the 2010 US Census has become "very complicated, very personal" and that ACORN, the community organizing group that had been burned the previous year, may be part of the door-to-door information gathering of the Census Bureau. He stated, "I know, for my family, the only question we will answer is how many people are in our house.We will not answer any information beyond that, because the Constitution does not require any information beyond that." According to Politifact, the statement is not true, because the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Republican Republican Patrick McHenry (NC), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) And John Mica (Fla.) - a member of the Government's Subcommittee on Governance Monitoring and Reform on Information Policy, the Census and the National Archives, overseeing the census - then asked Bachmann not to boycott population.
Together with Congressman Ted Poe (Tex.-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information requested by the US Census Bureau. He repeated his belief that the census was asking too many personal questions.
Cap and Trade Act
In March 2009, Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums hosting the next month in St. Petersburg. Cloud and Woodbury about Obama's proposed cap-and-trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Bachmann says he wants Minnesotans "armed and dangerous in this energy tax issue because we have to fight back." Bachmann's office quickly clarified that he spoke metaphorically, which means "armed with knowledge." According to the Star Tribune , the quote became viral on the Internet.
AmeriCorps
In 2009, Bachmann became a critic of what he characterized as a proposal for mandatory public service. From Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, expansion to AmeriCorps (federal public service organization), he said in April:
This is under the guise - voluntary. But that's not volunteer at all. It paying people to work on behalf of the government...
I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into compulsory service. And the real concern is that there is a provision for what I call a re-education camp for young people, where young people have to go and be trained in the philosophy proposed by the government and then they have to work in some of these politically correct forums.
The original bill calls for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program can be established, but the section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civil Service" is stripped of the bill.
In August 2009, Bachmann's political opponents were published in local media and blogosphere what they described as an "ironic" fact that his son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program.
Healthcare
Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when he read the July 24 article written by Betsy McCaughey from the floor of the house. Sarah Palin said that her "death panel" statement was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinion of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused her of advocating the maintenance of health care based on age and disability. According to PolyFacts and Time, Bachmann's euthanasia reminded Emanuel of distorted position on health care for the elderly and the disabled. FactCheck.org states, "We agree that Emanuel's meaning is being twisted." When many doctors want to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposes it.
On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying about improvements to health care Democrats who proposed:
It can not pass. What we must do today is make a covenant, to cut off our wrists, to be blood relatives in this matter. It will not pass. We'll do anything to make sure this does not pass.
He outlined ideas for changing health care systems, including: "Remove borders around each state when it comes to health care", allowing consumers to purchase cross-border insurance; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to "take full reduction of all medical expenses", including insurance premiums; and reform of the lawsuit.
Bachmann denounced the government-run public health insurance option, calling it a "government takeover of health care" that would "extort private health insurance".
Criticism over President Obama's visit to Asia
In an interview with Anderson Cooper on November 3, 2010, when discussing government spending cuts for Medicare and Social Security suggested by Congressman Paul Ryan, Bachmann was asked what government spending cuts he would do to reduce the deficit. He quoted President Obama's coming visit to Asia as an example, saying it was "expected to weigh on taxpayers $ 200 million a day.He brought two thousand people with him He will rent more than 870 rooms in India And this is a star hotel room 5 in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.This is a kind of over-the-top expenditure, this is a very small example, Anderson. "Bachmann apparently refers to the information in a story from the Press Trust of India, which is associated with" a high-ranking government official Maharashtra who knows the setting for high-profile visits ", information also published in US-based media such as Drudge Reports. Responding to news report claims that 34 warships were accompanying the President, a Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, dismissed the report as "funny". The White House says that the press reports are "highly inflated" and "have no basis in reality". While stating that they can not provide actual projected figures for security reasons, staff maintain fees that are in line with official travel expenses from the previous presidents Bush and Clinton.
112th Congress
Leadership goes
After the 2010 elections and announcements from Rep. Mike Pence that he stepped away from his leadership position in the House, Bachmann announced on his Facebook page his intention to seek the position of Chairman of the Republican Conference. Since Bachmann was the founder of Tea House Caucus, his announcement led some to see leadership elections as "an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the winners of the antiestablishment movement". Many of the Republican leaders, including Eric Cantor and retired Mike Pence, quickly supported the Rep. Jeb Hensarling for that position; Speaker-to-be John Boehner remains neutral on this issue. Bachmann's supporters include Reps. Steve King, John Kline, Louie Gohmert, Chip Cravaack, Erik Paulsen, and Glenn Beck's media personality and political commentator. The list of qualifications for Bachmann's position noted "I have done an effective job of speaking at the national and local levels, motivating people with our message, calling attention to the deficit in Obama's policy.I played a role in bringing tens of thousands of people to the US House of Representatives to rally against Obama's care and to attend our press conference. "He noted his work to keep the Tea Party in the GOP rather than making it a third party so as to help the party capture the House, stating" I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to basically put a hammer in the Hand of John Boehner, so Republicans can lead the way forward.... It's important that leadership represents the choices of those who enter our caucus.... I think I've motivated a lot of people to get involved in this cycle, may have solved it and it has made differences in some of these races, I give large sums of money to the NRCC and individual candidates and start Michele PAC, which collected $ 650,000 for members since July, so I can help financially about 50 people. "
Bachmann's offer suffered a setback when he was forwarded to the GOP transition team in which Hensarling was stationed. Although Bachmann leads all other Representatives in a fundraiser, a Republican aide says some members "feel annoyed at Bachmann, who they say is making an argument that you are not really a supporter of the Tea Party unless you support it.Through the formation of Tea Party Caucus and "Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann has campaigned earlier in the year, refuses to support her leadership offer, while other Tea Party favorites Reps Adam Kinzinger and Tim Scott are placed in the transition team. According to some senior members of the House of Representatives, party leaders worried about some of Bachmann's carelessness, high turnover among his staff, and how much he wanted to advance the party's message rather than his own.
On November 10, Bachmann released a statement ending his campaign for the Conference Chairman and providing "enthusiastic" support to Hensarling.
Committees assignment
Bachmann was elected by House Speaker John Boehner for the position "on the Council of Select Intelligence Committee, giving him a new role as supervisor of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and the rest of the US intelligence community." Bachmann, who "does not serve on any committee dealing with foreign policy issues" called for the position, "a move that has sparked speculation that he may be planning to bring a Tea Party banner to the GOP presidential election."
Revocation of Dodd-Frank's reform
Soon after being inducted into his third term, Bachmann introduced the law to repeal Dodd-Frank's financial reform law. He declared, "I am delighted to offer a full liftoff of Dodd-Frank's financial endowment bill that weighs on the work.Dodd-Frank really extends the federal government beyond his jurisdiction, giving Washington a bureaucratic power to interpret and enforce the law. with little oversight.real financial regulatory reforms have to deal with lenders that are the main cause of our economic recession.the real reform should also end the mindset of the bailout perpetuated by the last Congress. "He also took issue with the law for not handling the obligations of the payer taxes funded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Bachmann bill is supported by conservative groups such as Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. He obtained four other co-sponsors of the Republic, including Rep. Darrell Issa, who became chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Government Reform Committee at the start of the 112th Congress. Bachmann's call for total deprivation was seen as more drastic than the approach advocated by his Republican counterpart Spencer Bachus who became Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee with a majority change in the House. Bachus "plans to provide strong oversight of the regulator's efforts to reform the banking and housing... reform Fannie and Freddie", and "unpack the pieces of Dodd-Frank Act that he believes" does not need to punish small businesses and community banks. In response to Bachmann's legislation, Rep Barney Frank stated, "Michele Bachmann, Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear: they yearn to return to the stressful days of yesteryear , so loan savers can rise again - uninterrupted by any rules that hold irresponsible, excess, deceit, and, most importantly, unlimited levers. "Bachmann's legislative opportunities are deemed impossible, the Financial Times > writes that "Like the Republican move to repeal health care reforms, Ms Bachmann's bill may be passed by Parliament te but was blocked by the Senate. or the White House. "
State of the Union response
Bachmann responded to the speech of President of the Obama Workers Union in 2011 for the Tea Party Express website; this speech was broadcast live by CNN. He insisted that his response was not intended to counter the official Republican response by Rep. Paul Ryan from Wisconsin. Asked whether the speech was an indication of competition with Ryan and Boehner's leadership team leader, Bachmann dismissed views such as "media fiction", he had warned Ryan and the leadership team that his response would probably be national and no objection was raised.
Healthcare
Bachmann has marked the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as "ObamaCare", and has been constantly calling for his removal. He recalled to reporters that he called for a debate to revoke the action "the morning after Obamacare passed". Join the Rep. Steve King introduced the "Bachmann-King healthcare bill revocation" stating that it was "our intention in our hearts to ensure Obamacare is completely repealed." Given a Democrat-led Senate and Democrats who opposed the repeal, Bachmann called on the House of Representatives to not provide funds for the implementation of the action "But until we can see that [revocation] takes place, we want to fully resign. it would resemble a helium balloon that has no helium in it so it can not take off, and that's what we planned.I am very, very grateful for nothing else, to have a majority in the House of Representatives so we have the power of a wallet not to fund Obamacare, and this is the right way to go. "
On March 4, 2011, Bachmann (who was one of the six House Republicans to vote against an ongoing resolution) expressed his unhappiness with a two-week suspended move to the government's closing fears, stating "I promise to vote 'no' in the future forward Continuing Resolutions to fund the government unless there is a specific language including to revoke Obamacare and cancel the adjusted funding Defamation Obamacare, together with Planned Parenthood defunding, should be an unmeged board in our budget negotiations. "
In an appearance on Meet the Press on March 6, 2011, and during March 7, 2011, an interview with Sean Hannity, Bachmann stated that the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress had hidden $ 105 billion in spending in the overhaul of the Health Care System America. He described the Democratic leadership as a time of release of the text of the bill to avoid detection of expenditure "We did not get the bill until really a few hours before we should have chosen it." He also stated spending was divided in different parts of the bill to cover his total costs. Bachmann was alerted to the situation by the conservative Heritage Foundation which read reports from the Congressional Research Office and the Congressional Budget Office.
The reports noted a portion of the cost that included "about $ 40 billion will go to the Children's Health Insurance Program, $ 15 billion will be used for Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs, and $ 9.5 billion will go to the Health Center Fund Society. " Because the funds are designated as mandatory expenditures (they are not controlled by annual appropriations), the funds will remain even if the move to abort the reform legislation is successful.
Bachmann stated that the $ 16 billion of that money provided Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "reserve fund... [to do] whatever she wants with this money." He asked the supporters of the bill to return the money, "I think this deception that the president and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [the Leadership Senate of Harry] Reid was put forward by taking more than $ 105 billion should be given back to the people."
When asked during a Meet the Press interview if he would take back his earlier comment that Obama "might have an anti-American view" and that his government had "embraced something called gangster government," Bachmann supported his statement, saying "I believe that the action has been taken by this White House - I do not take back my statement about the gangster government.I think there are actions taken by corrupt governments... I say I have very serious concerns about presidential views, and I think the president's actions in the last two years spoke own. "
In response to accusations Bachmann, Deputy Police Chief of the Republic, Jan Schakowsky, who worked at the House health subcommittee, pointed out that the report referred to Bachmann was a report update that came out in October 2010 and that the charges were spelled out in both the bill and the Budget Office Congress estimates of the cost, "Michele Bachmann certainly did not read the bill, because there is absolutely nothing hidden in the law." Schakowsky argues that the cost is not kept secret, quoting $ 40 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program as an example "There is a strong debate as to whether or not it should be included, etc. So this idea somehow, now at the last minute, there are additional secrets to such funding... is nonsense. "
In Republican presidential debate in September 2011 in Tampa, FL, Bachmann criticized Rick Perry for his support of the human virapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and support for HPV vaccine mandates for all sixth graders of Texas. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other medical organizations worldwide support the immunization of girls and boys against HPV. HPV can cause genital lesions and warts, and has been linked to cervical cancer as well as genital and oral cancers in people of any gender. Since the vaccine is only effective if given before the onset of sexual activity and subsequent exposure to the virus, the medical group recommends three doses of vaccine given to children aged 11 and 12 years. Bachmann, during the debates and interviews following the event, accused Perry of "crony capitalism" (for former chief of staff Perry was the head lobbyist for drug companies producing vaccines), and claimed that HPV vaccine is harmful and causes mental retardation. He repeatedly refers to an anecdotal account of the mother of a girl immunized for HPV. "She told me that her little girl took the vaccine, the injection, and she suffered mental retardation afterwards," Bachmann said. "There is no second chance for these little girls if there are dangerous consequences on their bodies." Shortly after Bachmann's statement in the debate, the American Academy of Pediatrics released the statement: "The American Academy of Pediatrics wants to correct the false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine is harmful and can cause mental retardation.There is absolutely no scientific validity to this claim. vaccines have been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been given, and this has an excellent safety record. "Less than one percent of those who received the vaccine reported neurological side effects or, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions, none of which associated with changes in cognitive abilities. Bachmann later admitted that he was not a doctor or a scientist.
Letter on the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood
In June-July 2012, Bachmann and several other Republican legislators sent a series of letters to regulatory agencies in five federal departments citing "serious security concerns" about what Bachmann called "deep penetration in the alleys of the United States government" by the Brotherhood Muslim. They called for a formal inquiry into what Bachmann called "influence operations" by the Brotherhood.
Bachmann also accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former wife of Rep. Anthony Weiner, has a family relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Bachmann's comments have described what Washington Post called a "harsh criticism from fellow MPs and religious groups." In his speech at the Senate House, Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain denounced Bachmann's accusations as "disparaging and demeaning". He defends Abedin as "the hardworking and faithful servant of our country and our government" and declares "these attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no reward." They must stop now. House Speaker John Boehner called Bachmann's accusations "dangerous", and other Republicans also criticized the statement.
In a letter to Bachmann, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., A Muslim, requests proof to support his claim and states, "Your response is only to repeat claims that have existed for years on anti-Muslim websites and do not contain reliable information that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated US government ".
Bachmann has replied that "the intent of the letters is to describe the serious national security issues I have and ask for answers to questions about the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical groups' access to top officials of the Obama administration." In a July 19 interview with radio and TV host Glenn Beck, Bachmann repeated and expanded his allegations, accusing Ellison of having "a long record linked to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and with the Muslim Brotherhood." Ellison replied that "I am not now, I have never been, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood."
113th Congress
Financial Investigation of the presidential campaign
In 2013, Bachmann is under investigation by the House of Representatives Ethics Committee, the Federal Electoral Commission, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee, the Urbandale Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for alleged financial breaches of campaigns in the 2012 campaign for the President.
It is said that his staff members made payments under the table, that the funds were illegally transferred from his leadership PAC to pay consultants for his presidential campaign and that hidden payments were made to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson.
In addition, the lawsuit filed alleging that Bachmann and several former staff stole and misused the e-mail list of Iowa's homeschool group. The trial, Heki v. Bachmann , was set for May 14, 2014, but the case was settled out of court on June 28, 2013.
On July 26, 2013, the House's Ethics Committee announced that they conducted a full investigation of Bachmann, saying that they had received referrals from the Congressional Ethics Office.
Retirement
On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that he would not seek re-election to the seat of Congress in 2014. Bachmann stated in an interview with Fox News in June 2013 that he "will not be silent," and will remain engaged in politics. He does not rule out running the future for the office, or even for the White House. He also said that an investigation into his campaign fund and a narrow margin for his election was not part of his decision to seek re-election. With his retirement from Congress, his ethical investigation was canceled. Bachmann indicated, during a December New Year's December 2017 television interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, that he was considering running for the US Senate seat vacated by Al Franken, but he waited for the advice of God before making a decision.
Committees assignment
- Financial Services Committee
- Subcommittee on Government-sponsored Capital Markets and Enterprises
- Subcommittee on Supervision and Investigation
- Select Fixed Committee on Intelligence
Political position
Education policy
According to an article in the Stillwater Gazette, a local newspaper in Minnesota, Bachmann supports the creationist coexistence of teaching in public science school 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 another. He co-authored the bill (which received no additional support among fellow MPs) which would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the public school science curriculum. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota "there is controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not... There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of whom hold the Nobel Prize, who believes in intelligent design. "However, at least one news report, presenting" a sample of Bachmann's false claims... false or innocent ", states that this is not true, and that" when science is not on the [Bachmann] side, he only improvises. "
Bachmann praised the Christian youth ministry You Can Run But You Can not Hide International (YCRBYCH), praised the "group work to share the gospel in public schools". He emerged as the keynote speaker at their fundraising in 2006 and 2009. After the controversial 2011 invitation to Minnesota House, Bradlee Dean (founder of YCRBYCH), stated that his criticism of himself and his ministry was also "intended to undermine and destroy the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann... who previously praised and prayed for my ministry work ".
Bachmann has a history of anti-bullying laws. In 2006, he told the Minnesota Legislature that issuing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time. "I think for all of us, our experience in public schools is always a bully," Bachmann said. "I always just do not know how we're going to get to the point of zero tolerance... What does that mean... Will we expect boys to be girls?"
Fiscal Policy
In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann opposes the minimum wage increase. In an interview at the end of June 2011, Bachmann did not step back from a previous proposal to eliminate federal minimum wages, the changes he said would "almost eliminate unemployment."
In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage centralized state-controlled economies in the United States. He writes that the education law passed by Congress in 2001, including "School To Work" and "Goals 2000", created a new national school curriculum that embraces the "socialist, globalist worldview, loyalty to all governments and non-Americans." In 2003, Bachmann said that the economic initiative of the "Free Tax Zone" of the Governor of the Republic of Tim Pawlenty was based on the Marxist principle "of each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." He also said that the government is trying to organize and run a centrally planned economy through an organization called the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an economic and labor policy advisory council chaired by Pawlenty. Before his election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed the promise of "no new taxes" sponsored by the Minnesota Taxpayer League. As a state senator, Bachmann introduced two bills that would have very limited state taxation. In 2003, he proposed a constitutional amendment of the state of Minnesota to adopt a "Bill of Rights of Taxpayers" (TABOR).
In 2005, Bachmann opposed Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's proposal for an additional state cost of 75 cents per pack at the cost of a cigarette wholesaler. Bachmann said he opposed the state surcharge of "100 percent - that's a tax increase." He was later criticized by the Taxpayer League for reversing his position and voted in favor of extra cigarette costs.
He has promised to bring the price of gasoline to $ 2 per gallon, without specifying a plan to achieve this.
Environmental policy
Bachmann supports increasing domestic oil and natural gas drilling, as well as pursuing renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. He is a strong supporter of nuclear power.
Bachmann has expressed his strong opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pledging his campaign campaign in August 2011, "... I guarantee you EPA will have the doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation." In 2007 and 2010, Bachmann actively requested funds from the EPA on behalf of constituents in his congressional district.
Social Security and Medicare Distribution
Bachmann has requested the removal of Social Security and Medicare:
... What you have to do, is to remain faithful to those who already exist in the system, who have no other choice, we must remain faithful to them. But basically what we have to do is get everyone to stop.
Foreign policy
Bachmann said in dealing with Iran, diplomacy "is our choice", but other options, including nuclear strikes, should not be taken off the table.
He also said that he was "an ancient Israeli supporter".
Global economy
In a discussion about the G-20 summit in Toronto, during an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen, Bachmann stated that he does not want America to be part of the international global economy.
I do not want the United States to be in a global economy where our economic future is tied to Zimbabwe. We can not always believe in decisions made financially in other countries. I do not like the decisions made in our own country, but of course I do not want to trust my currency and future values ​​like Chavez in Venezuela.
On economists who have influenced his views, Bachmann told The Wall Street Journal
... Ã, the end of Milton Friedman as well as Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams. "I am also a devil Art Laffer - we are very close," he added. "And [Ludwig] von Mises, I like von Mises," getting excited and rattling from some of his classic works like Baptism and Bureaucracy. "When I go on vacation and I'm lying on the beach, I take von Mises."
Immigration policy
Bachmann believes that enforced immigration law enforcement is necessary for the growth of the American labor market. He supports the amendments of the Immigration and Citizenship Act to allow only the closest family of legal immigrants (not members of the extended family) priority considerations in the immigration process. He voted against the DREAM Act. He also stated that the current legislation does not need modification but proper enforcement.
Bachmann said: "... the immigration system in the United States worked very, very well until the mid-1960s when members of the liberal congress changed immigration laws."
Bachmann has expressed support for highly skilled professional immigration such as chemists and engineers.
He opposes the 2013 immigration reform bill, which suggests that passing it means the end of the Republican Party. At WorldNetDaily he stated "This is Obama's number one political agenda because he knows we will never again have the president of the Republic if amnesty applies."
Social issues
The same couple marriage amendment
Bachmann supports federal and state constitutional amendments that prohibit same-sex marriage and any law equivalents.
In August 2006, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that, in March 2006, Bachmann was at a Minneapolis radio show advocating state constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage. A caller asked him to explain how he, a heterosexual, would be harmed if his gay neighbor was allowed to marry. Bachmann replied by saying: "Public schools should teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are normal, natural and perhaps children should try it." The Star Tribune also reports that Bachmann openly calls homosexuality "sexual dysfunction", "sexual identity disorder", and "personal slavery" leading to "sexual anarchy".
In a July 2014 radio interview, Bachmann claimed that gay rights activists are trying to abolish age restriction laws in the United States because they want to "prey on sexually small children."
Pro-life position
Bachmann has identified himself as pro-life and
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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