US President Barack Obama: Issue Is Not Growth Versus Fiscal Responsibility

US President Barack Obama launched a stinging rebuke to his opponents as he called on them to realise that the country's economy needed both growth and fiscal responsibility to prosper.

On his personal twitter account, Obama called on politicians to reflect on what he considered to be the main lesson of the debt ceiling crisis and government shutdown.

"The issue is not growth versus fiscal responsibility. We need both."

Obama's tweet was reinforced by his remarks on the budget deal where he went into greater detail about the need for co-operation to make the US political system work again in a way that did not harm ordinary Americans.

He identified three key areas where the US could move to improve the economy including continuing the work towards a balanced budget which reduced deficits, reforming the immigration system and farm legislation that would help struggling rural communities.

On the issue of budget reform, Obama spelled out what he thought were the priorities.

"So the key now is a budget that cuts out the things that we don't need, closes corporate tax loopholes that don't help create jobs and frees up resources for the things that do help us grow, like education and infrastructure and research. And these things historically have not been partisan," said Obama.

"And this shouldn't be as difficult as it's been in past [few] years because we already spend less than we did a few years ago. Our deficits are half of what they were a few years ago. The debt problems we have now are long term.

"And we can address them without short-changing our kids or short-changing our grandkids or weakening the security that current generations have earned from their hard work. So that's number one."

Future Battles?

The current budget has extended the US debt ceiling of $16.7tn (£10.5tn, €12.3tn) until the 7 February 2014 when the fierce bipartisan battles could resurface again.

However, by this date, outstanding debt could reach $17.5tn.

Obama concluded that there were no winners from the current government shutdown and impasse over the US's ballooning debt.

"Now, there's been a lot of discussion lately of the politics of this shutdown. But let's be clear. There are no winners here. These last few weeks have inflicted completely unnecessary damage on our economy."