1. Bachmann Takes $1.1 M From Taxpayers But Claims Unemployment Benefits Are Unaffordable

August 14, 2011

By Jason Easley

Today Michele Bachmann claimed that we can’t afford to extend unemployment benefits, but while she has been in Congress, she has taken over $1.1 million taxpayer dollars in salary, subsidies, and benefits.

Here is what she said to the "Meet the Press" moderator, David Gregory:

Here’s the transcript:

MR. GREGORY: What about extending jobless benefits for people who are out of work? Do you think that’s a necessary step?

REP. BACHMANN: I think it would be very difficult for us to do because we, frankly, don’t have the money. I mean, that’s, that’s the bottom line in the United States. We are now, according to Mark Steyn, he wrote a book called “After America,” and in his book he says we are the brokest nation in history. He said we have gone from being the biggest creditor nation to the biggest debtor nation in a very short period of time.

MR. GREGORY: So, so no on extending jobless benefits.

REP. BACHMANN: Right now, I don’t think we can afford it.

While she has been in Congress, Michele Bachmann and her husband Marcus have been living the high life on your tax dollars. Marcus Bachmann’s clinic has taken $137,000 in Medicaid funds and an additional $24,000 in federal and state funds. This is in addition to the $260,000 in federal dairy and corn subsidies that she has taken for the family dairy farm, and let’s not forget her $174,000 annual salary plus benefits that she receives as a member of Congress. All of this adds up to over $1.1 million in taxpayer money that she or her husband has received, not counting benefits, since she was elected to Congress.

I’ll admit that my estimate is on the low side. When we factor in her benefits and perks including the free healthcare that she and family enjoy, I am sure that the amount of money Rep. Bachmann is costing taxpayers is much higher. The average American collects $295 a week in unemployment benefits, which is $15, 342 a year. One year of Michele Bachmann’s congressional salary could provide benefits for 11 families. For what Michele Bachmann has cost the federal government in salaries, benefits and subsidies 110 families could stay on unemployment for a year if needed.

It seems to me that if America wants to cut costs the first thing we should get rid of isn’t unemployment benefits, but freeloaders like Michele Bachmann.

The Socialism of Michele Bachmann By Heather

" On Oct. 5, 2009, Bachmann wrote Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack praising him for injecting money into the pork industry through the form of direct government purchases. She went on to request additional assistance.

 

"Your efforts to stabilize prices through direct government purchasing of pork and dairy products are very much welcomed by the producers in Minnesota, and I would encourage you to take any additional steps necessary to prevent further deterioration of these critical industries, such as making additional commodity purchases and working to expand trade outlets for these and other agricultural goods," Bachmann wrote.

At the time, the pork industry was facing a two-pronged calamity: fallout from the H1N1 influenza crisis and the ripple effects of the recession. Pork producers had lost nearly $4.6 billion in equity since 2007 and Vilsack, sensing greater market doom, had injected funds into the industry at least four times since that spring. In March 2009, the USDA purchased $25 million in pork, in April it made a $50 million purchase and in July it bought 775,000 pounds of ham, according to reports. In September, just one month before receiving Bachmann's letter, Vilsack had signed off on $30 million in additional federal purchases of pork."

 

2. Rep. Michele Bachmann Is Contradictory on Entitlement Programs

ANALYSIS by William Browning | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Oct 10, 2011| Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., knows how to make an entrance. She announced her candidacy during a live television debate and then won the Iowa Straw Poll. She is seen as a polarizing force for conservative voters yet she has fallen in polls since mid-August.

Bachmann, in general, has tough stances on financial matters and strict fiscal policies. Yet she also has strong feelings about entitlement programs for individuals.

"Medicare

Affordable health care was a polarizing issue for Americans in 2010. The passage of the Affordable Care Act was a rallying cry for conservatives in the November 2010 election. Bachmann took up the mantel of repealing President Obama's landmark health care legislation.

The Minneapolis-Star Tribune reported June 17 that Bachmann criticized Obama for gutting Medicare and forcing seniors to be on the new health care plan. She asserted Obama took $500 billion out of Medicare and gave it "younger people." Bachmann vowed to fight for Medicare to keep the program of government-funded health insurance as it is.

Her support of Medicare was a stark contrast to what Bachmann said a conference in St. Louis in February 2010. She railed on entitlements and thought they should be done away with.

"Basically what we have to do is wean everybody...off. And wean everybody off because we have to take those unfunded net liabilities off our bank sheet," Bachmann said, according to Think Progress.

The Minnesota congresswoman was referring to the $107 trillion of entitlements owed in the coming years for Social Security and Medicare. She was criticizing how the U.S. government needs to reform and cut these programs to make them solvent.

Welfare

Bachmann hasn't specifically addressed welfare benefits. However, Talking Points Memo has an interesting take on her stance based upon how she feels about government spending. Bachmann has suggested the federal government slash funding of many programs, some of which would include Medicaid for impoverished children.

Yet her husband's psychiatric clinic has utilized over $137,000 in Medicaid benefits for patients who couldn't afford his counseling services otherwise. In terms of child welfare, Bachmann has helped raise 23 foster children of her own, yet somehow seems to not support keeping programs that would help the most vulnerable Americans. "

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