President Obama on
Thursday said that he aimed at cutting the federal government's
deficit by 4 trillion U.S. dollars over the next decade while
spending on education and other investments key to the nation's
future.
"We're going to need to cut our deficit by 4 trillion dollars
over the next 10 years. I've already worked with Republicans and
Democrats to cut a trillion dollars in spending. I'm ready to do
more," Obama said at a campaign event in Miami, Florida.
"But we're not going to be able to get it done unless we also ask
the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on their incomes over
250,000 dollars,the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was President
and our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs. That's what we
need to do," Obama added.
He stressed that the nation should recruit 100,000 new math and
science teachers and provide 2 million workers the opportunity to
study at community colleges, and lower tuition costs for young
people in coming years, as education was crucial to the nation's
long-term competitiveness.
U.S. public debt has hit 16 trillion dollars, but Republicans and
Democrats remained at odds over how to slash the deficit and bolster
the economic growth.
