U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to cut the trillion-plus dollar U.S. budget deficit by half in his first term, in a daring pledge issued hours before he was to make his highly anticipated first speech to Congress on Tuesday, Associated Press reported. The economy has consumed Obama's time, but measurements of the U.S. economy's health have only worsened dramatically as he pulled together his new administration, shepherded his $787 billion stimulus bill through Congress and battled to keep the nation's ailing financial sector afloat. Obama will make clear that the ballooning deficit is one he «inherited.»
