Obama calls for balanced approach to cutting deficit

US President Barack Obama on Saturday called for a "balanced approach" to reducing America's mushrooming budget deficit, saying the country can live within its means while preserving its values.
"At the same time, we have to take a balanced approach to reducing our deficit -- an approach that protects the middle class, our commitments to seniors, and job-creating investments in things like education and clean energy," Obama said in his weekly radio address.
"What's required is an approach that draws support from both parties, and one that's based on the values of shared responsibility and shared prosperity," he added.
On Wednesday, Obama unveiled his plan for a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts to reduce the US budget deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years.
In addition to cuts in discretionary spending, Obama would finance his deficit drive with tax increases for affluent Americans. But he warned he would not allow investments in education, broadband and clean energy to be starved.
Officials said the approach would shave deficits as a share of the US economy to 2.5 percent of GDP in 2015 and put them on a path to reach close to 2.0 percent by the end of this decade.
Currently, the US budget deficit is forecast to reach $1.6 trillion this year and cumulative public debt stands at $14.27 trillion.
The proposal came after Republicans unveil-ed a rival budget and deficit reduction plan, which aims to cut $4.4 trillion from the deficit over a decade, but contains sweeping cuts in health care programs for the poor and the elderly.
The president blasted the Republican plan, saying it would give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest two percent of Americans.
But Obama said he believed Republicans and Democrats could bridge their differences and produce a bipartisan deficit reduction plan.