Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann started her address Thursday to the National Press Club with criticism of President Obama for having no plan to get the country out of the current debt limit crisis.
The Republican presidential candidate, in comments before a question-and-answer session in the nation's capital, harkened to the Reagan administration's efforts in the 1980s to keep down taxes as the way for federal government to solve its current budget difficulties.
She then declared that she will vote against any tax increases or any effort to raise the debt ceiling, adding that she has a "titanium spine" to stand up for her policy positions.
"I'm not fooled by President Obama's math, and people across the heartland aren't either," Bachmann said.
Bachmann also took aim at what she called excessive government spending programs, notably the president's "Obamacare" health care overhaul.
"Government doesn't solve problems, it subsidizes problems," she said.
Bachmann's appearance, which can be viewed live on www.press.org, comes as the White House and Congress grapple over raising the federal government's debt ceiling. The congresswoman has questioned the urgency of the White House's Aug. 2 deadline and pushed a plan she says could avoid default without raising the legal borrowing limit.
Bachmann said the administration continues to use "scare tactics" to get its way on the debt ceiling, suggesting that the White House keeps moving the deadline to meet its political needs.
