Michele Bachmann: Durban Climate Change Conference about redistribution of American money

Michele Bachmann fielded questions about UN Agenda 21 and global warming at a December 16, 2011 town hall meeting in Orange City, Iowa. The Minnesota Congresswoman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate took the opportunity to share her views on the Durban Climate Change Conference in South Africa. Bachmann also reiterated her plan to eliminate the EPA.

Here is a transcript of her remarks: 

Voter: I would like to know what your thoughts are on Agenda 21

Michele Bachmann: Yes, for those who don’t know Agenda 21 is essentially something that came out of the Rio Conference.

It’s about 20 years ago. 

Anyone know Al Gore?

Al Gore was there at the Rio Conference and the whole goal is really about global control.

It’s essentially a one world government view where there’s political body and the United States would have to subsume our sovereignty into a global body, but more than that, we would also have to give away our wealth.

So the wealth of the United States would be redistributed to other countries.

As a matter of a fact, that’s what the Durban Conference was about in South Africa this weekend, also about redistribution of American money.

And so I want you to know very clearly where I stand on this issue.

I oppose Agenda 21. 

I oppose putting the United States in an international political body where we lose United States sovereignty.

I don’t agree with that.

I don’t agree with a lot of the goals of the UN.

And I don’t agree with taking your money away from you and redistributing it across the world, because I believe in America and American sovereignty 

Voter: What do you believe about global warming? 

Michele Bachmann: What I believe is that we should not have a political agenda.

So much of the political agenda really in response to your question on Agenda 21 was this Durban Conference in South Africa this last weekend.

It was about global warming.

That was the basis of it.

But that is being used as a political pretext to have the United States tax us with a national energy tax, take that money into the federal government, use it to build a big federal government, but also use it to redistribute our wealth across the world.

I disagree with that. 

I absolutely disagree with that agenda.

And so I think that you’ve got to follow the science. 

What does science say?

If you look at the sources of carbon dioxide, you’ve got to look at the sources of carbon dioxide.

Is it human activity?

Is it bad what’s being produced?

And I think you’ve got to look at the science and let the science make the decision.

And that’s not what’s happening now.

Now it’s politics that’s driving this decision.

Voter: What would the EPA look like under your administration?

Michele Bachmann: Sure.

What would the EPA look like under my administration?

There wouldn’t be one.

The EPA would be gone, because we already have – there’s already 50 EPA’s in the United States.

There’s one here in Iowa.

It’s best if Iowans deal with clean air and clean water, and set your standards for your state, and let all 50 states…

Who in this room wants dirty water and wants dirty air?

Okay, I think that’s kind of the answer, isn’t it? 

Iowans are very common sense people.

I don’t want dirty air and I don’t want dirty water, but that’s not what the EPA is about.

They’re about killing jobs right now. 

And for farmers, they’ve been a disaster for farmers as well. 

I’ll not only shut down the EPA I’m going to shut down the Department of Education. 

And I have a few others in mind too that are going to go.

That’s not grandstanding. 

I mean it.

You can take that to the bank.

In the past, Bachmann has employed less tempered language when discussing climate science. On December 11, her campaign issued a statement describing global warming as an “unproven theory”.

C-Span has a full video of Michele Bachmann’s town hall meeting in Orange City, Iowa.

Photo of Michele Bachmann courtesy of IowaPolitics.com via Wikipedia Commons