Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann called Friday on President Obama to apologize for his landmark health care overhaul, which she called "legislative fraud of the highest order." A White House spokesman declined to comment. Her congressional office issued two statements several hours apart, both lamenting that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – ObamaCare in GOP parlance – locks in some $105 billion in future spending to expand health care coverage, set up insurance exchanges, and pay for the nuts and bolts of the new health care law. Such "advance appropriations," Bachmann said, make it difficult for current and future Congresses to defund the bill, the GOP's fallback position in light of the long odds against repeal. Democrats argue that the main provisions of the multi-year health care bill, which passed a year ago in March after more than a year of debate, are not exactly secret. Said Bachmann spokesman Doug Sachtleben: "She's just trying to hit the point that there are things that were buried. Certainly they were in the legislation, but not highlighted in the way they should have been." Asked whether Bachmann is alleging any illegal acts, Sachtleben demurred, "It's more impropriety."
