Obama Hails US Fiscal Cliff Deal | WPN World People News

U.S. President Barack Obama says he has kept his promise to America by working with Congress to change a tax code that he says too often benefited the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

In his weekly address Saturday, Obama hailed the bipartisan budget agreement lawmakers reached this week, noting it raised taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans for the first time in two decades. He said the move prevented a middle-class tax hike that could have thrown the economy back into recession.

But Obama said the government must still do more to put Americans back to work and get the country on a path to pay down its debt.

Obama said he believes spending cuts can be made without "shortchanging" items like education, job training, research and technology, which he called "critical" to the nation's prosperity.

In the weekly Republican address, U.S. Representative David Camp of the northern state of Michigan called on his fellow lawmakers to identify responsible ways to tackle what he called "Washington's wasteful spending."

Source: Voice of America