Rep. Bachmann Defends Recent Comments

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has received a lot of heat for comments she's been making about BP, the Obama administration and the oil spill relief fund. Bachmann spoke to FOX 9 about the controversy surrounding her.

Bachmann appeared on The O’Reilly Factor on FOX News where the conservative commentator grilled the congresswoman on her accusing the Obama administration of extorting money from BP for an escrow fund.

“Private companies need to be held accountable but not necessarily to the executive branch. It seems to me there’s a misreading of the Constitution and a misunderstanding of jurisdictional limits from this White House on what the extent of executive power is. They don’t seem to understand that, and now it seems that it’s all about extortion," said Bachmann.

Bachmann defended her comments on FOX 9 News:

“We don’t want to have politicians run the fund. We want to make sure that the fund goes to the true tragic victims of the Gulf oil spill – the people, the businesses, the marine life and the wildlife. Just a few weeks ago, my colleagues on the Democratic side on the Senate tried to invade another previous oil spill find. They wanted to use that money and divert it for non-oil spill fun purposes. They wanted to put it on unemployment benefits. It’s too easy for politicians to go into a fund and divert it to their pet project. Every dime of this money needs to go to recompensate the victims of the Gulf disaster. It shouldn’t be about he politicians’ pet projects.”

When asked if she would use different words when she stated what the White House is doing is extortions, Bachmann said:

“In the context of which I was speaking, the government has been doing a lot of overreaching and that was the context of my concern. Government should not overreach in the areas where they have no business.”