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CNN...
Transcript: Bachmann’s response
to State of the Union
January 25, 2011
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, cites the battle of Iwo Jima as an
example of Americans pulling together.
Rep. Michele Bachmann responds to speech from Tea Party Express
headquarters
Bachmann calls for full repeal of “Obamacare”
Bachmann says, “We need to start making things again in this country”
Washington (CNN) -- Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, responded to
President Obama’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night from the
Tea Party Express headquarters. Here is a transcript of Bachmann’s
speech.
Bachmann: Good evening. My name is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from
Minnesota’s 6th District.
I want to thank the Tea Party Express and Tea Party HD for inviting me
to speak this evening. I’m here at their request and not to compete
with the official Republican remarks.
The Tea Party is a dynamic force for good in our national conversation,
and it’s an honor for me to speak with you.
Two years ago, when Barack Obama became our president, unemployment was
7.8%, and our national debt stood at what seemed like a staggering
$10.6 trillion. We wondered whether the president would cut spending,
reduce the deficit and implement real job-creating policies.
Unfortunately, the president’s strategy for recovery was to spend a
trillion dollars on a failed stimulus program, fueled by borrowed
money. The White House promised us that all the spending would keep
unemployment under 8%. Not only did that plan fail to deliver, but
within three months, the national jobless rate spiked to 9.4%. It
hasn’t been lower for 20 straight months. While the government grew, we
lost more than 2 million jobs.
Let me show you a chart. Here are unemployment rates over the past 10
years. In October of 2001, our national unemployment rate was at 5.3%.
In 2008, it was at 6.6%. But just eight months after President Obama
promised lower unemployment, that rate spiked to a staggering 10.1%.
Today, unemployment is at 9.4% with about 400,000 new claims every week.
After the $700 billion bailout, the trillion-dollar stimulus, and the
massive budget bill with over 9,000 earmarks, many of you implored
Washington to please stop spending money that we don’t have. But
instead of cutting, we saw an unprecedented explosion of government
spending and debt. It was unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in the
history of the country.
Well, deficits were unacceptably high under President Bush, but they
exploded under President Obama’s direction, growing the national debt
by an astounding $3.1 trillion.
Well, what did we buy? Instead of a leaner, smarter government, we
bought a bureaucracy that now tells us which lightbulbs to buy and
which may put 16,500 IRS agents in charge of policing President Obama’s
health care bill. Obamacare mandates and penalties may even force many
job-creators to just stop offering health insurance altogether, unless,
of course, yours is one of the more than 222 privileged companies, or
unions, that’s already received a government waiver under Obamacare.
In the end, unless we fully repeal Obamacare, a nation that currently
enjoys the world’s finest health care might be forced to rely on
government-run coverage. That could have a devastating impact on our
national debt for even generations to come.
For two years, President Obama made promises, just like the ones we
heard him make this evening, yet still we have high unemployment,
devalued housing prices, and the cost of gasoline is skyrocketing.
Well, here’s a few suggestions for fixing our economy. The president
could stop the EPA from imposing a job-destroying cap-and-trade system.
The president could support a balanced budget amendment. The president
could agree to an energy policy that increases American energy
production and reduces our dependence on foreign oil.
The president could also turn back some of the 132 regulations put in
place in the last two years, many of which will cost our economy $100
million or more. And the president should repeal Obamacare and support
free-market solutions, like medical malpractice reform and allowing all
Americans to buy any health care policy they like anywhere in the
United States.
We need to start making things again in this country, and we can do
that by reducing the tax and regulatory burden on job-creators. America
will have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Think about
that. Look no further to see why jobs are moving overseas.
But thanks to you, there’s reason for all of us to have hope that real
spending cuts are coming, because last November, you went to the polls,
and you voted out the big-spending politicians and you put in their
place great men and women with a commitment to follow our Constitution
and cut the size of government. I believe that we’re in the very early
days of a history-making turn in America.
Please know how important your calls, visits and letters are to the
maintenance of our liberties. Because of you, Congress is responding,
and we’re just beginning to start to undo the damage that’s been done
the last few years, because we believe in lower taxes, we believe in a
limited view of government and exceptionalism in America. And I believe
that America is the indispensable nation of the world.
Just the creation of this nation itself was a miracle. Who can say that
we won’t see a miracle again? The perilous battle that was fought
during World War II in the Pacific at Iwo Jima was a battle against all
odds, and yet this picture immortalizes the victory of young GIs over
the incursion against the Japanese. These six young men raising the
flag came to symbolize all of America coming together to beat back a
totalitarian aggressor.
Our current debt crisis we face today is different, but we still need
all of us to pull together. But we can do this. That’s our hope. We
will push forward. We will proclaim liberty throughout the land. And we
will do so because we, the people, will never give up on this great
nation.
So God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
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