WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed the Cut, Cap and Balance Act Tuesday night, 234-190 with all but nine Republicans supporting the measure. One of those Republicans was Michele Bachmann, whose vote was one of the few mysteries going into the night.
Bachmann signed the Cut, Cap and Balance Pledge in South Carolina yesterday, but at the time she said the measure doesn’t go far enough in cutting spending. It’s a message she repeated in a statement this evening.
“Along with cutting spending, putting in place enforceable spending caps that put us on a path to balance and passing a balanced budget amendment, we must also repeal and defund ObamaCare,” she said, reiterating her one condition for voting to raise the debt ceiling. “We must remember that ObamaCare is the largest spending and entitlement program in our nation’s history. That means, at a time when we can least afford it, President Obama added to our spending problem by the trillions. Without its repeal, we cannot have real economic reform.”
A handful of other Minnesota representatives rose to voice their support or opposition to the measure during the hours of debate that preceded the vote, including John Kline, Erik Paulsen and Betty McCollum.
Kline and Paulsen supported the legislation and praised it as a step toward fiscal responsibility.
“It’s time for Washington to do what’s right. We need to make the tough choices necessary to get our nation’s fiscal house in order. No one said it would be easy, but it is certainly necessary,” Kline said. “The legislation before us today will end unsustainable spending and put this nation back on a fiscally responsible path.”
But McCollum, one of the more liberal members in the Minnesota delegation, said the bill was the result of “Tea Party gimmicks and games.”
“Thank goodness this bill never pass the U.S. Senate,” she said. “This bill will never become law.”
Congressman Chip Cravaack joined Kline and Paulsen in supporting the bill. Tim Walz and Collin Peterson voted it against it, and Keith Ellison missed the vote as he continues to recover from knee surgery.
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