U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged the U.S. Congress to pass the $3.5 trillion 2010 budget. Though the massive budget is likely to confront criticism, during brief remarks in the White House, Obama said the budget and its allocations are necessary in the midst of trying economic times. “The answers don't have to be partisan,” Obama urged. “We need more good ideas… [not] political tactics.” During “this moment of enormous challenge,” U.S. lawmakers should work in coordination with the White House to pass the budget, he said. “We have made some tough choices,” Obama said, speaking of budget created to address the recession the United States has been in since 2007. “These are no ordinary times.” Calling the 2010 budget the “economic blueprint of our future,” Obama said it addresses the “massive [$1trillion] deficit that we inherited.” During his comments, Obama promised to cut the deficit in half “by the end of my first term.” Obama highlighted the focus on healthcare, education and energy reform in the upcoming budget, saying that those issues were of most importance to the struggling American people. A “historic commitment to health care reform in this budget,” education reform and making “clean energy the profitable kind of energy,” Obama said that his budget allocations will lead to “real growth and real prosperity.” Addressing the complexity of the economic crisis, Obama said “the American people don't have the luxury of just focusing on Wall Street… they have to face all these problems… and as a consequence, so do we.” “The challenges we face are too much to ignore…I came here to solve them,” Obama pledged.
