by Jeff Fecke | March 24, 2009 • I don’t know whether it’s a point in my favor or not that I think I understand what Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Crazytown, is trying to argue here:
| Jeff Fecke is a freelance writer who lives in Eagan, Minnesota. In addition to his own blog, Blog of the Moderate Left, he also contributes to Alas, a Blog, Minnesota Campaign Report, and AlterNet. Fecke has appeared as a guest on the “Today” show, the Alan Colmes radio show, and the Mark Heaney Show. Fecke is divorced, and the father of one really terrific daughter. His debut novel, The Valkyrie’s Tale, is now available. |
Bachmann is trying to argue that Congress didn’t have the Constitutional authority to pass TARP. Of course, she’s completely wrong about that, and she made her argument so haphazardly that Tim Geithner can be forgiven not for understanding her.
As for the question she actually asked, the answer is pretty simple: the Treasury is acting under authority granted by Congress, under Article I of the U.S. Constitution. Article I regulates the Congress, of which Michele Bachmann is, sadly, a member. You would think that being a member of Congress would spur Michele to understand things like the elastic clause and the way Congress has functioned for roughly the last 200 years or so, but this is Michele Bachmann we’re talking about, a woman who is widely considered by members of both caucuses to be completely insane.
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