Why Michele Bachmann Wants Congress to ‘Spank’ President Obama
Published at
Win McNamee/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — On Monday, Rep. Michele Bachmann suggested a new way for GOP Congress members to block immigration reform from passing in the House, and no, it did not include a filibuster.
In an interview with conservative website, World News Daily, Bachmann, R-Minn., suggested that Congress should “spank” President Obama and, “pinch his ears back” in order to, “give the president a major wake up call” regarding immigration reform.
“He has a perpetual magic wand and nobody’s given him a spanking yet and taken it out of his hand,” the congresswoman said, referring to the president’s past use of executive order to push through immigration legislation and many other laws.
In 2012, President Obama signed an executive order that ended the deportation of young illegal immigrants, but the order did not grant them voting rights. Critics claim that order, coupled with the administration’s opposition to voter ID laws, could create a pool of illegal voters. What’s more, Bachmann fears Obama will use another executive order to further affect the voting process.
Obama’s “magic wand” waving is still a concern for Bachmann: while she has voiced no plans to run for office in 2014, she vehemently expressed worries that the president’s actions with immigration reform would be a threat to the success of Republican candidates in the 2014 election cycle.
“I think the president, by executive order, could again wave his magic wand before 2014 and he’d say, ‘Now all of the new legal Americans are going to have voter rights,’” Bachmann said.
According to Bachmann, the best way to combat the president’s magic wand is to spank him where it hurts — in his pocket.
“The way we spank the president is we do it through the checkbook,” she said.
As Bachmann asserted, Congress holds the “power of the purse” over the executive branch, which would allow it to prevent the president from granting voting rights to non-citizens.
“The most powerful body in Washington, D.C., is the United States House of Representatives,” she said. “We’re the ones who say, ‘No you can’t have the money.’”
Although it is too early to tell how Bachmann’s suggestions will play out among her peers, the president’s stance on immigration reform is an addition to an existing list of worries Bachmann has previously aired to the public.
In September 2012, she expressed worries about President Obama being influenced by Islamic organizations and enforcing “Islamic speech codes” as a way to “brainwash” members of the federal government in, “political correctness toward Islam.”
Her concerns have not seemed to faze President Obama, who has not responded to suggestions of congressional overwatch.
This week, the president will take to the airwaves on local Spanish-language networks in an attempt to pressure Republican House members to work on immigration reform.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio