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With an insider’s eye, Hot Dish tracks the tastiest bits of Minnesota’s political scene and keep you up-to-date on those elected to serve you.

Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.

Posts about 6th District

Bachmann takes another shot at Obamacare

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: January 4, 2013 - 12:17 PM

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Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann began her fourth term in Congress Thursday by immediately filing another bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act “in its entirety.”
 
There was no press announcement. Nor was it mentioned in a swearing-in day press release announcing staff changes, office locations, and a new Web site design.
 
The news came via her Twitter account: “At noon today, I introduced the first bill of the 113th Congress to repeal Obamacare in its entirety.”
 
The GOP-controlled House passed repeal legislation in the last session of Congress, though it wasn't the version authored by Bachmann, who often describes herself as the "tip of the spear" in the repeal effort. In any case, the bill never went anywhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
 
On the presidential campaign trail in 2011, Bachmann often told audiences in Iowa that defeating President Obama was the last best chance of undoing his signature health care law. But that doesn’t mean she won’t keep trying.
 
 

Bachmann casts a late vote for Speaker Boehner

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: January 3, 2013 - 6:01 PM

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U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann caused a minor stir during Thursday’s election for U.S. House Speaker, when she did not appear during a roll call vote to elect Ohio Republican John Boehner.

 
The Minnesota Republican’s name was called twice.
 
Boehner has had well-known troubles with the Tea Party wing of the Republican caucus over the “fiscal cliff” deal, and his reelection was less of a sure thing than these pro-forma session-opening votes usually are.
 
By the end of the roll call, 14 members had still not voted, and Boehner was still short of the 218 needed to remain House Speaker.
 
But the absent or not-voting members were called again, and on the second round Bachmann was on the House floor. She cast her vote for Boehner, and joined him later for the traditional swearing-in photo-op.
 
Message sent? Not according to Bachmann spokesman Dan Kotman. "There's nothing to read into it," he said.

Bachmann says Congress should forego pay raise

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 31, 2012 - 5:09 PM

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Staring into the abyss of the fiscal cliff deadline, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann introduced legislation Monday that would rescind the portion of President Obama’s executive order that gives members of Congress a pay raise.

“At a time when families across the country are cutting back we should not increase government spending and add to the debt burden by giving members of Congress a pay raise," the Minnesota Republican said.

The announcement came as House leaders indicated they would not have a budget deal done by the midnight deadline, plunging the nation off the fiscal cliff.

Bachmann praises latest Medicaid probe

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 11, 2012 - 4:07 PM

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A recent decision by the Inspector General office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to audit the Medicaid rates paid to non-profit health plans in Minnesota came in for praise Tuesday by two prominent conservative Republicans in the state.
 
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and state Sen. Sean Nienow, who once worked for her, issued a statement welcoming the new investigation, which follows similar probes by congressional investigators and other federal officials.
 
“Taxpayers have been paying huge sums of money to health plans without ever getting an itemized list of what the money was for,” said Bachmann. “It is time that we find out, once and for all, why the health plans have been amassing huge reserves, and at the same time, increasing the rates they charge for paying Medicaid claims.”

Bachmann assails Obama over Petraeus testimony

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: November 16, 2012 - 4:35 PM

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Bachmann heads to Petraeus hearing

Bachmann heads to Petraeus hearing

Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann, a member of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, termed Friday’s closed-door testimony by ousted CIA chief David Petraeus “only an introduction …regarding the attacks that transpired in Benghazi.”
 
Bachmann, one of a select few lawmakers with a chance to hear directly from the retired general on September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, said the testimony “further underscores the need for a thorough investigation.”
 
Bachmann made no reference to the extra-marital affair that led to the CIA chief's downfall last week.
 
Joining a GOP chorus of critics over the deadly attack in Libya, Bachmann added, “The hearings that we have held to this point have not produced answers to the questions that the victims’ families and the American people deserve to have answered.”
 
Still left unanswered, according to Bachmann and other Republicans: The lack of security at the Benghazi mission; the Obama administration’s response to prior calls for assistance from American personnel in Libya; and the original White House’s statements about spontaneous demonstrations linked to an anti-Islamic video.

“Ultimately, President Obama is responsible for the actions of his national security team,” Bachmann said.

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