Minnesota Independent

Bachmann will ‘look to the Lord’ in deciding 2012 presidential bid

By Andy Birkey | 02.18.11 | 2:32 pm

Rep. Michele Bachmann told Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network Friday that she will “look to the Lord” for guidance on whether she’ll run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Bachmann, whose activism in the tea party movement and among conservative evangelical Christians has her visiting most parts of the country, has repeatedly said that her faith would guide her decision to seek higher office.

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-St. Paul). Photo: Facebook

McCollum receives death threat over NASCAR bill

By Andy Birkey | 02.17.11 | 3:24 pm

Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum received a death threat on Wednesday over her amendment to a spending bill to end Pentagon funding for NASCAR, Talking Points Memo reports. McCollum’s amendment would strip $7 million that goes to NASCAR annually to advertise the U.S. Army. McCollum said in tough economic times that money should be spent on veterans.

Bachmann proposes cuts to veterans benefits

By Luke Johnson | 01.28.11 | 10:36 am

This week, Rep. Michelle Bachmann proposed $400 billion in “real and necessary” budget cuts in federal spending to avoid raising the budget ceiling from $14.3 trillion. The cuts include capping increases in Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care spending and reducing Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) payments for veterans, all to save a total of $4.5 billion.

Allen West. Photo: Gage Skidmore, Flickr

Florida GOPer: Ellison represents the ‘antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established’

By Luke Johnson | 01.24.11 | 3:55 pm

U.S. Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) appeared recently on the South Florida-based program The Shalom Show and said Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim representative in Congress, represents the “antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.”

Bachmann flirts with 2012 run while in Iowa

By Tyler Kingkade | 01.22.11 | 2:30 pm

“It should be no shock a girl comes here,” Rep. Michele Bachmann told audiences in Des Moines Friday. “I know that there’s been a lot of speculation, though, about why I’m coming to Iowa today and I don’t want to keep you in suspense one more minute. Because it is with pride in my heart that I am here to announce tonight in Iowa… it’s really good to be home.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann. Photo: Tyler Kingkade, Iowa Independent

Bachmann in Iowa: ‘America is under attack’

By Tyler Kingkade | 01.22.11 | 12:28 pm

Rep. Michele Bachmann warned guests of an event organized by Iowans for Tax Relief Friday night that America is “under attack” by a “thundercloud of debt weighing upon [the U.S.].” Bachmann, who is openly mulling a run for the Republican presidential nomination, repeatedly discussed with a crowd of around 150 at a Des Moines hotel her doubts that the U.S. would continue as a great nation under the policies of the current government.

Photo: U.S. Army Family, Morale Welfare and Recreation Command Image Archive, Flickr

Kline cosponsors bill to delay repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’

By Luke Johnson | 01.21.11 | 9:09 am

The repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the U.S. military’s policy of banning openly gay servicemembers, was signed into law late last year. Nevertheless, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) has already introduced a bill that would require the signature of chiefs of the four branches of the military to sign off on the repeal as well. Republican Rep. John Kline is among 18 cosponsors of the bill.

FCC passes new net neutrality rules

By Andy Birkey | 12.21.10 | 2:32 pm

The Federal Communications Commission passed a set of rules Tuesday “to preserve basic Internet values,” but advocates of net neutrality say the new rules do not go far enough. Sen. Al Franken called the measures “simply inadequate,” while Republicans have vowed to push to repeal the new framework.

Republicans kill McCollum’s anti-child marriage bill

By Andy Birkey | 12.21.10 | 8:07 am

A bill authored by Rep. Betty McCollum to prevent child marriage abroad was defeated in the House late last week by Republicans who said the bill might fund abortion. The International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act passed the Senate unanimously early last week without Republican objection. McCollum called the GOP’s efforts to kill the bill “blatant phony arguments.”

House passes DREAM Act

By Todd A. Heywood | 12.09.10 | 10:21 am

The DREAM Act — the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act — passed the House by a 216-198 margin Wednesday. CNN reports the vote was mostly along partisan lines. In Minnesota that was true, except in one case: Blue Dog Democrat Collin Peterson sided with Republicans Michele Bachmann, John Kline and Erik Paulsen in opposing the bill.