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The story:

Distorting Geithner's comments about the dollar

By Alexander Lane
Published on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 12:12 p.m.


Rep. Michele Bachmann has been strident lately in her opposition to the Democrats running Congress and the Obama administration.

Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican who is a tax lawyer, considers herself a "foreign correspondent on enemy lines" in Washington, D.C. She also called for an "orderly revolution" against the Democrats on a recent radio show.

One source of her concern, Bachmann has said repeatedly, is that she fears the Obama administration wants to do away with the dollar. She introduced a constitutional amendment on March 25 that would prohibit that. Thirty-one  Republicans have co-sponsored it.

In a news release announcing the measure, Bachmann claimed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had said he was open to the idea of dropping the dollar.

"Yesterday, during a Financial Services Committee hearing, I asked Secretary Geithner if he would denounce efforts to move towards a global currency and he answered unequivocally that he would," Bachmann said in the March 25, 2009 news release . "And President Obama gave the nation the same assurances. But just a day later, Secretary Geithner has left the option on the table. I want to know which it is."

We researched Bachmann's claim and found she was distorting Geithner's comments. She earned a False on our Truth-O-Meter.

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About this story:

Sources:

See Truth-O-Meter item.

Researchers: Alexander Lane

Names in this story: Michele Bachmann, Timothy Geithner

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