Bachmann: I’m Thankful For The One Bill I Sponsored That Actually Became Law

Outgoing Congresswoman Michele Bachmann was asked by Time magazine what’s she’s thankful for this Thanksgiving. She didn’t have many options.

As Thanksgiving approaches, Time magazine asked several notables what they are thankful for this year. Soon-to-be-ex-Congresswoman Michele Bachmann had few achievements to point to from this year (or, actually, any year) so she snuck in a 2102 bill that actually passed both the House and the Senate and was actually signed into law by President Obama last year. 

“While it didn’t always make headlines, a major highlight of my service in Congress was advocating on behalf of vulnerable children, as a co-chair of both the Congressional Coalition on Adoption and the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth,” Bachmann told Time, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of her public statements and speeches were not about “vulnerable children,” but rather, about the existential threats coming from gay people and Muslims.

“Together with my fellow Foster Youth Caucus co-chairs,” the Minnesota Congresswoman continued, “we introduced the Uninterrupted Scholars Act, pushed it through both chambers, and got it to the President’s desk. This law helps ease paperwork and protects foster youth as they transition from school to school.”

No doubt it is a fine law. But there’s also no doubt that if a lawmaker’s job is to make laws, it is her one achievement in Congress. And not hers alone, as she’s technically a co-author, along with three other Congressmen.

To date, across her nearly eight years, Rep. Bachmann sponsored a total of 64 bills. 59 were referred to a committee and stayed there until they died. Of the remaining five, three were “agreed to”: H.Res. 373 (111th): Expressing support for designation of the month of September as “National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month”, H.Res. 923 (110th): Recognizing the State of Minnesota’s 150th anniversary, and H.Res. 789 (110th): Honoring public child welfare agencies, nonprofit organizations and private entities providing services for foster children.

Just two of Bachmann’s actual bills passed the House: H.R. 45: To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and H.R. 43: To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14 Red River Avenue North in Cold Spring, Minnesota, as the “Officer Tommy Decker Memorial Post Office”. 

That is the extent of Michele Bachmann’s accomplishments as a U.S. Congresswoman over a period of nearly eight years, unless anyone cares to add in that Bachmann was the founder of the House Tea Party Caucus.

Over her time in Congress, Michele Bachmann missed a total of 650 votes, or nearly 10 percent of all votes during her tenure.

And it’s not even a part of her assigned role as a GOP Congresswoman. Bachmann was a member of just two committees, the Committee on Financial Services and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In eight years she never chaired a committee.

 

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr