President Obama Radio Address

U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday addressing the federal debt will require "a balanced approach" involving spending cuts and "some new revenues." In his weekly radio address, the President -- who has called congressional leaders to a White House meeting set for 11 a.m. EDT Saturday -- reiterated that for Washington to avoid taking on more debt that "will weaken our economy, cause higher interest rates for families, and force us to scale back things like education and Medicare," Democrats and Republicans "need to put aside our differences to do what's right for the country. Everyone is going to have to be willing to compromise. Otherwise, we'll never get anything done." "That's why we need a balanced approach to cutting the deficit," he said. "We need an approach that makes some serious cuts to worthy programs -- cuts I wouldn't make under normal circumstances. And we need an approach that asks everybody to do their part." "So that means, yes, we have to make serious budget cuts; but that it's not right to ask middle class families to pay more for college before we ask the biggest corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. It means that before we stop funding clean energy, we should ask oil companies and corporate jet owners to give up the tax breaks that other companies don't get. Before we cut medical research, we should ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries. Before we ask seniors to pay more for Medicare, we should ask the wealthiest taxpayers to give up tax breaks we simply cannot afford under these circumstances. That's the heart of this approach: serious cuts, balanced by some new revenues," the President said. "And it's been the position of every Democratic and Republican leader who has worked to reduce the deficit, from Bill Clinton to Ronald Reagan."