Rep. Bachmann: Budget agreement is a 'minuscule step'

Congresswoman reacts to the Ryan-Murray deal

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," December 12, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Paul Ryan is on the House floor right now making one final pitch for a package he cobbled together with Patty Murray of Washington State, the senator from that fine state, but a package that Mark Levin at the outset of the show said was a disaster, doesn`t really do anything, doesn`t move the ball. In fact, everything goes backwards.

Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann here now on whether she will vote for it.

What do you think, Congresswoman?

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN, R - MN: Well, I think Mark is absolutely right that it doesn`t move the ball forward. Let`s face it.

If anything, it`s a minuscule step. And I think what it represents, quite frankly, is that both sides decided they didn`t want to fight, they wanted to agree, and so they just got the deal done.

Now, the good thing is, Congress actually has a budget, so that`s -- that`s positive. But does it balance? No. Does it balance in the near term? No. Does it balance in the long term? No. So, for Tea Partiers and conservatives, this leaves a lot to be happy about.

But on the other hand, what our real goal is right now is to have an election and make sure we can get people in who are going to deal with the biggest budget killer there is right now, and that`s ObamaCare. We have to repeal ObamaCare. So, we will...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: So you`re voting against this, Congresswoman, just to be clear. There are a number of your conservative colleagues who are going to do the same, but the word we`re getting is that this will likely pass the House...

BACHMANN: Oh, it will pass.

CAVUTO: ... and likely pass the Senate.

BACHMANN: It will pass.

It will...

CAVUTO: So...

BACHMANN: It will pass because Nancy Pelosi has come out and she has told her members to embrace this bill. So the Democrats will pass it.

I think there will be a strong contingent of Republicans that vote for this, too, because they just want to get it over with. But we have a big fight in front of us with ObamaCare and we have to make the case for why balancing the budget grows jobs and builds this economy. That needs...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: So, you don`t buy it when Paul Ryan says, Congresswoman, that this puts the focus back where it should be, on ObamaCare, on spending, so that Democrats can`t turn around and say, well, you guys are going to try to shut the government down, and then pile on you there?

You don`t buy that argument?

BACHMANN: No, I do. I think Paul is exactly right.

I think that Paul did the best he could with the hand that was dealt him. I give him a lot of kudos and a lot of praise. I think he did a good job, a very good job with what he had. But, again, let`s recognize what we`re getting here.

It is a minuscule step. It does give certainty to people going forward. It is Congress getting a budget. So, you do have a lot of positives. It`s all -- it`s not all negatives. But to Mark Levin`s point, he is exactly right. This doesn`t get us very little, even, in the direction of balanced budget.

So I`m not slapping up Paul here, because I think Paul did a very good job with what he had.

CAVUTO: But do you think that -- but his strategy is to avoid a shutdown, and -- and -- and you`re quite right to say sometimes Republicans get the blame for prompting a shutdown because they`re against spending more. Democrats never do because they are.

But it is what it is, and that he wants to avoid that -- that theater, and that Republicans will benefit from this because they can go right back to focusing on issues near and dear to you.

BACHMANN: I think that`s true. I think that is a true calculus, that we can focus on what people really care about right now, which is the fact that government is hurting them with ObamaCare. Government is not helping them.

CAVUTO: So, you think shutdowns and what Ted Cruz did hurt that or -- or helped that?

BACHMANN: I think when Ted Cruz did his filibuster, it was very good, in that it was a flash point for the country, because people were just really becoming aware, Neil, of what ObamaCare was going to mean to them personally.

It had been theoretical for a long time, and ObamaCare was right on the cusp of being put into effect. Now we`re seeing the sticker shock. We`re seeing all of the other impacts. It`s very, very personal for people, and it will only become more so in the months ahead. This is an issue that people are going to care about in the next election. We want to talk about that -- that issue until the first Tuesday of November.

CAVUTO: All right, Congresswoman, thank you. Good seeing you again.

BACHMANN: Good to see you.

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