House Proceeding 05-07-09 on May 7th, 2009 :: 0:32:30 to 0:37:45
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0:32:13 to 0:32:34( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: i reserve th time. the chair: for what purpose does thgentlewoman from minnesota rise? mrs. bachmann: i claim the time inp opposition. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. mrs. bachmann: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in opposition to this amendment which strips down language in the bill designed to keep tax dollars from falling

0:32:30 to 0:37:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Michelle Marie Bachmann

0:32:35 to 0:32:56( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: into the hands of organizations indicted for voter fraud or its related crimes. it was last week during our financial services committee markup of the underlying bill i offered a straightforward amendment to limit eligibility for the housing counseling grants and the legal assistance grants authorized by the bill to exclude organizations indicted for voter fraud

0:32:57 to 0:33:17( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: people indicted for such crimes. plain and simple, mr. chair. it should sound familiar to everyone here in this chamber because the exact same language was passed as part of the housing and economic recovery act of 2008 to prohibit groups such aacorn from obtaining taxpayer funded grants. 272 members of this boddy, including the gentleman from

0:33:18 to 0:33:38( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: massachusetts who just spoke, voted for that legislation which became law last july. but not only is it legitimate for congress to decide the threshold for accessing taxpayer funds, it's incumbent upon this body to do so and our if i disheary capacity to the taxpayers of this greatp country. fo far too long congress has

0:33:39 to 0:34:00( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: cavalierly taxpayer money. every day we could go on record saying we will no longer set the bar this low. we are all familiar with the saying, fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me. but acorn and organizations like it have fooled twice, but seemingly aft every election. the stories of their indictments for voter fraud for violating

0:34:01 to 0:34:23( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: their tax status, voter registration abound. grand juries across the nation found them and their employees lacking, yet continue to funnel millions of dollars to their coffers. just this week on monday the headlines out of nevada read, 39 counts of voter registration fraud against acorn and two of its former empyees. it was several hours oorks hot

0:34:24 to 0:34:45( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: off the presses, that the "pittsburgh post-gazette" reported, breaking news an allegheny county district atrney charged seven attorneys of acorn with forgery of election law violations saying they filed hundreds of fraudulent voter registratio during last year's general election. can' about this, mr. speaker? how many felony charges does it take to see that ts

0:34:46 to 0:35:07( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: organization has violated the public trust? congress isn't the ash trador of guilt or innocent, congress does money. at what point do we finally say this organization is simply not worthy of the hard-earned money of the american people? according to recent testimony at the house judiciary committee, acorn has been under investigation in states for

0:35:08 to 0:35:28( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: among other things violations of the tax code, 501-c-3. violations of the federal election campaign act of 1971. fraudulent voter activities. and failure to comply with state law and voter registration drives. here just a few more headlines of late. january, 2009, a voter registration worker for acorn in

0:35:29 to 0:35:50( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: e-st. louis was indicted on two points of voter fraud submitting forged cards for residents at nursing homes without their knowledge. according to the a.p. in october of 2008, a suburban philadelphia man was charged with forgery, alleging altering 18 voter registration applications during his employment with an

0:35:51 to 0:36:13( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: organization, acorn, whose voter outreach efforts have become a flash point in the presidential campaign. cnn reported october 28 about an acorn worker who helped register nearly 2,000 voters for the community group acorn. not one of them actually existing. he was convicted last year and spent nearly three months in prison. the gentleman from massachusetts says that his amendment is about

0:36:14 to 0:36:34( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: due process, but i am soarry, mr. speaker, the american people are smarter than that. they deserve better than such an oratory sleight of hand. his amendment is about our duty dollar and mine. others say this is about the importance of the underlying grant program. there are plenty of legitimate law-abidinging nonprofits who

0:36:35 to 0:36:55( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: have never seen an indictment that could still apply for these grants. the bottom line is this, either you are against allowing organizations that engage in or employ individuals under investigation for voter fraud to receive tax dollars or you aren't. mr. speaker, our votes on this amendment make our positions crystal clear to theeople we serve. are we on the people's side or

0:36:56 to 0:37:17( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: are we on acorn'side? we owe it to our constituents who are already tired, frustrated, and outraged by this cycle of spending and bailout and taxing and borrowing to at least show them that we aren't going to pick their pockets to fund groups thatre about abusing their trust over and over again.

0:37:18 to 0:37:39( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. . the chair: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. frank: mr. chairman, i have the right to close so i reserve. the chair: the gentlewoman from minnesota. mrs. bachmann: mr. speaker, i would just end by saying i urge the people of this body to

0:37:40 to 0:37:45( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: oppose this amendment because as we stand in our fiduciary duty before the taxpayers we need to make our vote clear.