Bachmann to critics: ‘Now is not the time for political grandstanding’

Rep. Michele Bachmann. Minnesota Independent file photo

Rep. Michele Bachmann responded to critics who have taken issue with a statement she made about “weaning” Americans off of Social Security and Medicare. The DFL, and candidates Dr. Maureen Reed and Sen. Tarryl Clark blasted Bachmann’s comments earlier this week.

“Now is not the time for political grandstanding,” Bachmann shot back on Wednesday. “My political opponents will surely do their fair share of that as they attempt to contort my words and scare my constituents.”

Bachmann was responding to statements by Clark and Reed on Tuesday.

“What Congresswoman Bachmann is talking about, plain and simple, is bringing an end to Social Security and Medicare,” Clark said in a statement. “Michele Bachmann has decided to yank the proverbial retirement rug out from under her constituents – just when it’s needed the most.”

“Michele Bachmann’s statements Monday are indicative of the way she conducts herself as a Congresswoman,” Reed’s campaign manager Jason Isaacson said on Tuesday. “She purposely injects fear into public policy debates, attempting to paralyze the dialogue and prevent common-sense solutions.”

Bachmann’s full press release:

America is at a crossroads in its history. One road leads us down a path of rising deficits and debt as far as the eye can see, higher taxes, a weakened dollar, and a broken economy. The other road will lead us to a country in which our children and grandchildren no longer have to pay interest on our government’s fiscally reckless spending habits. The truth is, government spending is out of control, and instead of making the tough choices to reign in spending like families are doing all across the country, Congress would rather vote to raise our nation’s debt limit to over $14 trillion. We deserve better.

The government is growing bigger and bigger, and a major contributing factor to this is our nation’s commitment to entitlement spending programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. While they’re all well intentioned programs that serve a specific purpose, if they aren’t fundamentally fixed in their scope and delivery, they will burden future generations of Americans with massive amounts of debt, reduce our standard of living, and sink our prosperous nation. The numbers speak for themselves and no one can dispute them: these programs are simply unsustainable under their current structure. People who are receiving these benefits now should continue to do so in their current form, but going forward, we need to explore ways to properly administer these programs before it’s too late.

“This sounds reasonable enough, but the problem is, every time someone even mentions fixing a program like Social Security for future generations, the political attack machine ramps up in an attempt to scare the living day lights out of Americans. For example, you’ll hear my critics say that I don’t care about senior citizens. You’ll hear them say I want to take away your Social Security. Not true. The truth is, under it’s current structure, Social Security is going bankrupt and it can’t fulfill its promises to future retirees and can’t be maintained without increasing the debt burden placed on our children and grandchildren. In regards to Medicare, the Democrats have proposed cutting $500 billion from this important program to fund their health care plan instead of looking at ways to fix it. Is this the best path forward?

Now is not the time for political grandstanding. My political opponents will surely do their fair share of that as they attempt to contort my words and scare my constituents. I’m focused on working with my colleagues in finding effective and credible ways to make Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid solvent once again. There is simply too much at stake for our senior citizens and for the next generation of Americans who will be asked to pay for these benefits.