WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- The budget given to Congress will build economic recovery on a strong base so the country won't face a similar crisis, U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday.
His $3.6 trillion budget strategy is attacking the economic crisis "on all fronts," Obama said in a statement before getting into a prime time news conference. "It's a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to restart lending and to grow our economy over the long-term. And we are beginning to see signs of progress. "
The best way to reduce the country's deficit is a budget that "leads to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow-and-spend to one where we save and invest," Obama said.
His budget invests in renewable energy resources that will create new jobs and businesses, and lessen the country's dependence on foreign oil, Obama said. It also invests in schools and teachers to help American children compete in a global job market. The strategy also underwrites healthcare reform for families, businesses and government.
"And in this budget, we have made the tough choices necessary to cut our deficit in half by the end of my first term -- even under the most pessimistic estimates," Obama said.
The country will recover from the recession, Obama said.
"But it will take time, it will take patience, and it will take an understanding that when we all work together," the president said, "when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have to each other -- that's when we succeed. That's when we prosper."
