Michelle Bachmann Has Released Her Own Budget

1:57 pm EST January 25th, 2011

Somebody has had a sniff of fame and she wants it all.

Rep. Michele Bachmann released her own spending plan for the country on Monday, as she gears up for her unofficial rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union address.
The Minnesota Republican’s proposal calls for eliminating the Department of Education and repealing signature Democratic legislation like the Dodd-Frank Act and a food safety bill. It would shift more transportation costs to states by reducing funds for the federal highway program.

Genius. Keep her out front for the GOP. It’s almost as good as Palin.

January 24, 2011

Categories:

• Budget

Bachmann releases spending-cut plan

Rep. Michele Bachmann released her own spending-cut plan for the country on Monday, as she gears up for her unofficial rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union address.

The Minnesota Republican's proposal calls for eliminating the Department of Education and repealing signature Democratic legislation like the Dodd-Frank Act and a food safety bill. It would shift more transportation costs to states by reducing funds for the federal highway program.

Her $430 billion in cuts over the next five years is smaller than the Republican Study Committee's plan to cut $2.5 trillion over ten years.

While Republican leadership - and even the conservative Republican Study Committee -- is shying away from touching defense spending, Bachmann calls for approving cuts suggested by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and eliminating homeland security grants to states.
Update: Bachmann's office contacted POLITICO to say the spending plan is a list of potential cuts, not a complete budget, as was originally reported in the headline. This post was corrected to say the cuts would total $430 billion.


She's proposed repealing some laws that haven't been in the national conversation recently, like the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, which guarantees a certain wage level workers on federal projects.

Unlike most Republicans, Bachmann also proposes a way to raise money - by leasing land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas companies.

House GOP leaders have reiterated that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) will deliver the party's official stance.

"I look forward to all comments. But Paul Ryan is going to give the official Republican response," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor told reporters Monday. He was quick to point out that Bachmann is merely one of 534 members of Congress.

"Michele Bachmann, just as the other 534 members of the House and the Senate, are going to have opinions on the state of the union," he said.
Correction: Bachmann's plan includes $430 billion in cuts, a number we reported incorrectly.