CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript

Interview

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BLITZER: Let's get right to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, she's one of the Republican presidential candidates, she's joining us from Iowa.

Congresswoman, thanks very much for joining us.

BACHMANN: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Were you as surprised as I was, and maybe you were or you weren't, when this one Tea Party group, it's called American Majority -- I wasn't exactly familiar with it, maybe you are since you've really been involved in the Tea Party movement -- their executive director, Matt Robbins, issued a statement saying this. He said, "Let's face it," referring to you, "she's a back-bencher and has been a back-bencher congressperson for years. This is not a serious presidential campaign."

I want you to -- when you heard about that, what went through your mind, because these are Tea Party activists?

BACHMANN: Well, of course, we found out that this is really a misstep on the part of the Perry campaign because these are Perry supporters that came out. This was a clumsy move. This was meant to be a stealth move to make it look like this was Tea Party, and apparently, these are Perry supporters that came out and it was just a clumsy move on their part to make this statement.

If Governor Perry has something to say to me, he can come out to the debates and he say it. But this was clearly -- this egg on the face, unfortunately, for the Perry campaign. It certainly isn't a blow to my campaign because I've had non-stop support coming out of the woodwork from Tea Partiers all across the country ever since this came out.

BLITZER: Do you have any evidence that it was directed or that the Perry campaign got this American Majority group involved in this? Any hard evidence, or is that just a surmise?

BACHMANN: No, this is something that people have told us, that these are Perry supporters and they went out with this and this was meant to be a stealth move and it was clumsy.

But again, my involvement in the Tea Party movement has been for years. People know that I brought over 40,000 Americans to Washington, D.C. to fight against the implementation of Obamacare. I have led the movement for the Tea Party in Washington. I started the Tea Party caucus in Washington, D.C. And for years, I have been the leader at the tip of the spear.

I introduced the bill to repeal Obamacare. I'm a chief author of a bill to get rid of the housing and jobs destruction an act, also known as Dodd-Frank. I've been a leading foe of Nancy Pelosi and the overspending, and a leading foe of President Obama. I've been called his chief critic in Washington D.C. That's my badge of honor.

So I think that it's very clear that I have a backing and support of the Tea Party. I'm the one who is the first person who has signed the pledge to build the fence on America's southern border and pull the taxpayer subsidies for illegal aliens. Governor Perry is the one who said he would not build a fence and he's the one who wants Americans to pay for taxpayer subsidized benefits for illegal aliens and their children.

BLITZER: The spokesman, by the way, for American Majority, said they did support -- they did say they liked Rick Perry's economic plan, his tax reform plan, but they insist they haven't endorsed anyone, just for the record. That's what they're saying publicly in reaction to this uproar over whether or not they want you to step down or quit this presidential race.

But let's move, let's move on to some of the other substantive issues right now.

BACHMANN: Well, I'm sure you can -- I am sure you can -- I'm sure you can look into that and find the background.

BLITZER: Well, we will. I promise you that.

Let's talk a little -- I want to get to your economic plan, because you've got a major economic plan you've put out there, but a little politics first.

In out our new poll -- not national polls, but in the states, the first four states -- right now, you're showing you're 4 percent of Florida, 6 percent in Iowa, 2 percent in New Hampshire, 4 percent in South Carolina.

You've got a lot of work ahead of you, Congressman (sic). What's going on, cause you spent a lot of time especially in Iowa?

BACHMANN: Well, we've been in all of these early primary states and we have spent a lot of time. And again, I was discounted from the very beginning on the Iowa Straw Poll.

There's no other straw poll like Iowa's. Anyone who holds a valid driver's license can vote in that poll. I came in with less time than anyone. I was -- everyone said she won't win, and I was the first woman, also, to win the Iowa Straw Poll.

We won that when everyone said it was impossible. Now we're going for the caucuses in Iowa. That's the next time when people will vote.

Sure, I'm being discounted, but I'm doing exactly what I should do. I'm here at Carver Pump in Muscatine, Iowa meeting with the owners and meeting with the people who are working here on the shop floor. And that's what I'm doing voter by voter, and we're identifying people to be supporters.

So don't count us out by a long shot. That's exactly what these other candidates would like to do, they'd like to count us out, but that's not what we're seeing by people on the ground. They recognize that I am the true conservative in this race. And people shouldn't settle, this is the year when they can have it all with the candidate who is a true fiscal conservative, a peace through strength conservative, someone who is a social conservative and a Tea Partier. And I've got that and we're finding a lot of support here in Iowa.

BLITZER: Let's talk about your economic plan, your American Jobs Right Now, your blueprint that you've released this week. I want to go through one area, tax reform. It's in the news right now.

Big oil company like Exxon Mobil, they had a 41 percent profit jump, $10 billion profit in the last quarter alone, but big oil companies like Exxon Mobil, they still get some tax breaks, tax subsidies to the tune of about $4 billion in hard -- in American taxpayer money.

Is that something you would change? Would you eliminate those tax breaks for the big oil companies?

BACHMANN: Well, let's talk about that, Wolf.

If you look at the effective tax rate for Whirlpool, they had a minus 11 percent effective tax rate. GE had a 7 percent tax rate. Google had something like a 21 percent tax rate. McDonald's had something like a 30 percent tax rate. Exxon Mobil had a 45 percent tax rate, and Marathon had something like a 50 percent tax rate.

So if you want to know who is paying the taxes, the oil companies are the ones that are paying an effective tax rate of nearly 50 percent.

BLITZER: But American taxpayers still subsidize those big oil and gas companies to the tune of $4 billion a year. Now, $4 billion a year may not be a lot in the terms of huge trillion-dollar deficits, but a billion here, a billion there, as they used to say, eventually, you're talking real money.

BACHMANN: Well, those are tax credits. That's what you're referring to, is subsidies. Those are tax credits.

Tax credits are available nearly for many industries across the spectrum, but the bottom line is, what is the effective tax rate that these companies are paying? There's no fairness whatsoever when you have GE paying a 7 percent effective tax rate, and you have Marathon Oil paying 50 percent and Exxon Mobil paying a 45 percent tax rate.

That's what really counts, Wolf, is the bottom line. What is the effective tax rate? And some of the highest effective tax rates right now are being paid by the oil companies.

BLITZER: Which of these Republican candidates would you see as your main challenger right now?

BACHMANN: Well, my main challenger right now is Barack Obama. That's who I'm focused on.

His economic policies are a disaster and his foreign policy is even worse. Under Barack Obama's watch, we have expended $805 billion to liberate the people of Iraq and, more importantly, 4,400 American lives.

President Obama just had his hat handed to him by the Iraqis, who have essentially kicked him out and our people out of Iraq while Iran is waiting in the wings. So Iraq is essentially kowtowing to Iran. Iran is seeking to have a nuclear weapon.

They want to wipe Israel off the face of the map, and they want to use a nuclear weapon against the United States. And the president said sure, we'll get out. So, the president has done nothing to secure America's safety and security. He's been a disaster on foreign policy.

BLITZER: But as far as Iraq is concerned, the Iraq War, which started in March, 2003, that was President Bush and the Republicans who launched that war that went on for years. This current president is now withdrawing all of those troops from Iraq.

Don't you give him credit for that?

BACHMANN: Wolf, the current president is being kicked out of Iraq. The president of the United States has gotten nothing.

BLITZER: You want those troops to stay there?

BACHMANN: This is a bipartisan effort --

BLITZER: Do you want those troops to stay in Iraq?

BACHMANN: Wolf, this was a bipartisan effort when the decision was made regarding Iraq. I wasn't in Congress at that time, but this was a bipartisan effort. This was not just a Republican effort.

What President Obama has failed to do is secure the gains that America paid for with an extremely dear cost -- 4,400 American lives, nearly a trillion dollars in expenditures, and we have nothing to show for it. And we may look at a Maliki government which has admitted they cannot secure the peace.

They've said themselves they need eight more years to secure the peace. But, of course, Iran is putting the pressure on. They don't want any American presence, because Iran wants to come in and be the dominant hegemon in that region and exercise influence.

That's the problem. And this is a country who not only wants to dominate Middle East politics, but they also are hell-bent on making sure that they can build and deliver a nuclear weapon sufficient to wipe Israel off the map, and also to use it against the United States.

That's why President Obama has made a tremendous tactical error when he chose to put daylight between the United States and Israel. He sent a signal to Israel's hostile enemies that they can go ahead and be aggressive, and Iran certainly is.

BLITZER: Congresswoman, we'll continue this conversation down the road. Thanks very much for joining us.

BACHMANN: Thank you, Wolf.

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