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Distorting Geithner's comments about the dollar

Contrary to what Rep. Bachmann says, the treasury secretary has no plans to get rid of the dollar as the U.S. currency. Contrary to what Rep. Bachmann says, the treasury secretary has no plans to get rid of the dollar as the U.S. currency.

Contrary to what Rep. Bachmann says, the treasury secretary has no plans to get rid of the dollar as the U.S. currency.

By Alexander Lane April 2, 2009

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."

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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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Distorting Geithner's comments about the dollar