Two Faced Bachmann, Stimulus Issue

15 August 2011 |permalink | email article

On “Meet the Press” Sunday and in other network interviews fiscally conservative Michele Bachmann, winner of the Iowa Straw Poll, decried President Obama’s big government spending message, insisting Americans support her opposition to raising the federal debt limit despite the fact major corporations and leaders in both parties understood the reasons.

Given that jobs, not reducing deficits, is a major domestic concern in the 2012 presidential campaign, Bachmann, the Tea Party’s fiscal conservative champion, preaches an anti-government argument but it’s not supported by the Minnesota congresswoman’s actual record—one of duplicity on the stimulus.

The Huffington Post, in a Freedom of Information request filed with three separate federal agencies, revealed that on at least 16 separate occasions Bachmann petioned the federal government for direct financial help or aid. A large chunk of those requests were for funds set aside for Obama’s stimulus program. She also made two more of those requests to the Environment Protection Agency, an institution she suggested would be eliminated if she became president.

Switch reels: The congresswoman, with little, ideologically, in common, with Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, joined forces with them to push for federal approval of a big bridge project – a $700 million freeway-style span over the St. Croix River between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Such an alliance directly contradicts her pledge to erase government stimulus spending. Huff Post notes that despite Bachmann’s repeated request for stimulus funds and other government funds she’s been ineffective in securing federal funds for constituents.

Last week Obama told members of Congress they would be far more productive during the summer recess by not returning to the Capitol but listening to constituents in town hall meetings in their districts.  Bachmann has been ineffective in getting federal help but the fact she sought such help matters. Each member of Congress has a serious obligation to take advantage of stimulus opportunities in their own districts. Tens of thousands of bridges, highways, streets and construction projects created millions of jobs during the Great Depression in the 1930s. The conservative Republican right must understand that every newly employed citizen creates new revenue which lifts the economy.

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