Michele Bachmann - Budget Control Act of 2011
CNN National Security Debate
On November 22, 2011, Congresswoman Bachmann participated in the national security debate on CNN. She notes her position on the budget control act and the super-committee.
BLITZER: Let's talk about that, Congresswoman Bachmann.
Social Security, Medicare, health care -- what would you cut first?
What would you tackle if you were president of the United States?
BACHMANN: Let me answer that in the context of the super committee, because I was involved in the middle of that fight as a member of Congress this summer. And my voice said this. I said it's time for us to draw a line in the sand. We have sufficient revenues coming in to pay the interest on the debt.
But the real issue was, were we going to give Congress another $2.4 billion in borrowing authority?
In other words, another blank check to the president. Because, again, consider the context. A little of four years ago, we were just over $8 trillion in debt. We are now $15 trillion in debt in just over four years. Now we're talking about -- if the gentleman is correct -- adding another $11 trillion in debt over 10 years, or potentially $8.5 trillion, according to the super committee.
All that they were asked to do is cut back on $1.2 trillion of that increase in debt. We aren't even talking about the central issue, which is balancing the budget. We need to balance the budget and then chip away at the debt. This isn't Monopoly money.
Because what we need to recognize is that when we are sending interest money over to China, with whom we are highly in hock, we're not just sending our money. We're sending our power.
What will happen is that our national security and our military will decrease and our money will increase China's military. So think about that.
Our money will be used to grow China's military at the expense of the United States military. That should give every American pause.
Voting Record
Budget Control Act of 2011
The Budget Control Act of 2011 was a compromise to raise the debt ceiling in stages in return for putting deficit reduction measures in place. The legislation created the super-committee of 12 Congressmen and Senators to find ways to lower the debt and established across the board reductions if they failed to reached a certain amount of reduction over ten years. Michele Bachmann voted against the Budget Control Act of 2011.
Michele Bachmann voted against the Budget Control Act of 2011.
Sponsored and Cosponsored Legislation
This representative has not been identified as sponsoring or cosponsoring significant legislation related to this title.