Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the national Tea Party star who is eyeing a possible run for President, really is opposing every initiative from the White House. In her latest comments, Bachmann slammed First Lady Michelle Obama’s move as part of her physical fitness campaigns, plus decisions by the Obama administration proper, to promote breastfeeding.
The government has taken recent steps to promote breastfeeding, including a ruling last week by the Internal Revenue Service to declare breast pumps and other nursing supplies as medical tax deductions.
But this is one tax break that’s not welcomed by Bachmann, as she said during an appearance Tuesday on the Laura Ingraham radio show.
“I’ve given birth to five babies, and I’ve breastfed every single one of these babies,” Bachmann said. “To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies, I mean, you wanna talk about the nanny state — I think you just got the new definition of the nanny state.”
As Lynn Sweet at Politics Daily points out, Michelle Obama said last week at a lunch with reporters: “We also want to focus on the important touch points in a child’s life. And what we’re learning now is that early intervention is key. Breastfeeding. Kids who are breastfed longer have a lower tendency to be obese.”
In addition, breastfeeding rates are lower among African-Americans mothers than among other ethnic groups. Michelle Obama previously discussed this topic in an address to the Congressional Black Caucus Conference: “And because it’s important to prevent obesity early, we’re also working to promote breastfeeding, especially in the black community — where 40 percent of our babies never get breastfed at all, even in the first weeks of life, and we know that babies that are breastfed are less likely to be obese as children.”
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