Bachmann: I Hope Congress Doesn't Pass Obama Job Plan

Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann says President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress did not outline a jobs plan, but was a political speech, and she hopes lawmakers do not pass implementing legislation. Bachmann also told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Thursday extending payroll tax deductions and unemployment insurance will not create jobs.
 

“Well, it wasn’t a plan, it was a political speech,” Bachmann said. “And I think my bottom line is: So what’s new about what we heard? The president gave no new ideas — and I think the real problem is that, again, this was political — and I’m a business person.

“We need to do what works because quite simply, to extend payroll tax deductions — there’s no credible supporting evidence that shows that created any new jobs,” she said. “Not only that, extending the unemployment benefits — if you look at the president’s own new economic adviser, he said in two different studies that the longer you keep people on unemployment, the less likely it is they're going to find a job — that doesn’t work.

“More stimulus? Do we really need ‘son of stimulus’? We passed a trillion dollars in stimulus. Will billions more do the job? There is nothing new here, Bachmann said. “I hope Congress doesn’t pass this plan.”

Van Susteren noted that Obama repeatedly said Congress must immediately pass legislation implementing the American Jobs Act and if it was such a priority, why didn’t he present it to lawmakers before he went to Martha’s Vineyard on vacation.

She further asked if the plan was so urgent, why the president was presenting his proposals incrementally.

“Well, that’s right — and this was a significant event tonight — you don’t call in 535 members of Congress and have a joint session where the president gives a speech to the nation and not have something more concrete,” Bachmann said. “I think what’s very unfortunate in all of this — and what the coming days will show — this doesn’t tell a job creator that we’ll see certainty. This doesn’t tell a creator that the return on their investment is bound to be safe.

“That’s what’s really detrimental in all this — I’m not talking about political points, I could care less about political points,” she said. “What I’m concerned about are the 14 million people, as my Democrat colleagues are, as well. The reality is, this speech will impress no one who has an ability to be able to bring the economy back because the real problem in all this is that Washington, D.C., will never solve the economy.