The Hill News

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) will criticize President Obama for overspending and credit the conservative Tea Party movement for changing the tide in Washington during her Tuesday night response to the State of the Union.

Even though some Republicans voiced concern that her message could conflict with the official GOP response, excerpts released by the congresswoman's office contain no direct mention of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) official GOP response and no mention of a benchmark for spending cuts. 

Bachmann will note that Tea Party activists loudly protested against the federal stimulus package but Obama decided not to listen, costing him dearly in the November midterm elections.

{mosads}"Many of you implored Washington to please stop spending money we don’t have," Bachmann will say. "But, instead of cutting, we saw an unprecedented explosion of government spending and debt at President Obama’s direction; ! unlike anything we have seen in the history of our country."

The excerpts mostly center on job creation, which is expected to be the focus of the president's address. She will call on Obama to restrict the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to enforce limits on greenhouse gas emissions, to sign a "balanced budget amendment," agree to an "all-of-the-above" energy plan and cut back some new regulations that she says have squelched economic growth. 

She will also thank Tea Party activists for sweeping out "big spending politicians" in the midterm elections and for creating support for greater spending cuts.

"Thanks to all of you, there’s reason to hope that real spending cuts are coming," she said. "And I believe that we are in the early days of a history-making turn here in the House of Representatives."

The rest of the Minnesota congresswoman's speech will be closely watched Tuesday night by political observers for signs of dissent between her and GOP leaders, even though she and other Republicans downplayed that possibility leading up to her response.

Bachmann is viewed as an ambitious lawmaker who wants to raise her political profile and maybe run for higher office.

But her speech might not receive the wider audience for which she had been hoping. CNN is the only cable or broadcast network that has decided to air the speech. Tea Party Express, the group sponsoring the rebuttal, will also stream it on their website.

Her full speech ! will air after Ryan delivers his official response, which immediately follows the president's speech.