Interview with Representative Michele Bachmann: 'I Have a Spine Made Out of Titanium'

Interview with Representative Michele Bachmann: 'I Have a Spine Made Out of Titanium' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Michele Bachmann, a darling of the Tea Party movement in the US, voted against President Barack Obama's budget compromise last week. She spoke with SPIEGEL about the need to cut spending, the US involvement in Libya and her fight for principles.

SPIEGEL: Representative Bachmann, President Barack Obama plans to get US debt under control by raising taxes, but also via the kind of drastic spending cuts that you have long been demanding. A breakthrough?

Bachmann: The President's speech was more of the same. He said he had a plan for spending cuts, but then he talked about the need for more spending and more taxes. It sounds like the same story we've been hearing since he claimed that his trillion-dollar stimulus would keep unemployment from going above 8 percent.

SPIEGEL: Last week, you voted against the budget compromise for 2011. The budget includes cuts worth $38 billion. Why are you so opposed?

Bachmann: The deal that was reached is a disappointment for me and for millions of Americans who expected $100 billion in cuts. Instead, we've been asked to settle for $39 billion in cuts. We're missing the mandate given us by voters last November.

SPIEGEL: How deep would you like to see the cuts ultimately be?

Bachmann: I think that my opinion has been from the beginning that we need to have a defunding of Obamacare in any final agreement. There is no other issue like Obamacare that has unified people across America. We're talking Democrats, independents, apolitical people, Libertarians, Republicans. All people want to see Obamacare defunded.