I'll halve deficit says Obama
- 00:01:30
- ITN
I'll halve deficit says Obama
President Barack Obama has pledged to cut the US budget deficit by half in the next four years. He said the country would face another economic crisis if it did not address the debt problems it inherited off President George W Bush's administration. Mr Obama, whose month-old administration has pushed through a $787 billion (£543bn) economic stimulus package to try to jolt the country out of recession, said the need for massive spending now did not mean US budget problems could wait until later. He said: "If we confront this crisis without also confronting the deficits that helped cause it, we risk sinking into another crisis down the road." Business and union leaders, and members of both political parties attended the White House summit on "fiscal responsibility". It focused on ways of cutting the US budget by cutting healthcare costs, taxes on the rich, and a fall in military spending. Mr Obama, who rolls out his first budget on Thursday, stressed the urgency of acting quickly and emphasized he inherited a $1.3 trillion (£900bn) deficit with interest payments in 2008 alone at $250 billion (£172bn) - or three times more than the US spent on education. "We cannot and will not sustain deficits like these without end," Mr Obama said. "Today I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office."
ITN | February 24, 2009
