Obama: I'm ready and willing to get deal
2012-12-22 08:05
Washington - President Barack Obama issued a stern summons
to congressional leaders to approve legislation before year's end to prevent
tax increases on millions of middle class Americans and prevent an expiration
of long-term unemployment benefits for the jobless that could hit the US
economy hard.
His remarks on Friday capped the end of yet another
frustrating week during which Obama's Democrats and opposition Republicans, led
by House Speaker John Boehner, were unable to reach an agreement on avoiding
the so-called fiscal cliff.
On Thursday, Boehner signaled that he was still open to
talks with Obama but said he didn't know how the combination of automatic tax
increases and spending cuts would be avoided.
"How we get there, God only knows," he said.
Economists fear the combination of across-the-board tax
increases and steep spending cuts scheduled to kick 1 January could deliver a
blow to the US economy.
The president spoke at the end of a day in which stocks
around the world tumbled and congressional leaders squabbled as the fiscal
cliff drew implacably closer.
Obama insisted that he still wants a bill that requires the
well-to-do to pay more. "Everybody's got to give a little bit in a
sensible way" to prevent the economy from pitching over a
recession-threatening fiscal cliff, he said.
He spoke after talking by phone with Boehner and meeting
with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"I still think we can get it done," Obama said as
he struggled to pick up the pieces of weeks of failed negotiations and
political manoeuvring.
- SAPA
