US President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed to focus on job creation and faster economic growth as the US senate passed the debt celing bill to avert a major economic crisis at the last moment.
"In the coming months I'll continue also to fight for what the American people care most about: new jobs, higher wages and faster economic growth," Obama said in his address to the nation from the White House, after the Senate passed the bill that would increase borrowing limit and reduce deficit by $2.4 trillion.
Obama, who is soon expected to sign the bill that was also passed by the House of Representatives, said: "While, Washington has been absorbed in this debate about deficits, people across the country are asking, what can we do to help the father looking for work? What are we going to do for the single mom who's seen her hours cut back at the hospital? What are we going to do to make it easier for businesses to put up that 'now hiring' sign?"
"I've said it before. I will say it again. We can't balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have borne the biggest brunt of this recession. We can't make it tougher for young people to go to college or ask seniors to pay more for health care or ask scientists to give up on promising medical research because we couldn't close a tax shelter for the most fortunate among us," he said.
Obama said: "Everyone's going to have to chip in. That's only fair. That's the principle I'll be fighting for during the next phase of this process."
