The US President Barack Obama called the Congress – in particular the opposition Republicans -- to salvage a fiscal cliff deal, that would preserve middle class tax cuts and avoid the imminent economic crisis if such a deal is not reached in next 10 days.
"We're only going to be able to do it together. We're going to have to find some common ground," Obama said in his address to the White House.
In the absence of a resolution to the fiscal cliff, the United States could plunge into a deep economic crisis with increase in income tax rates for the middle class.
"There's a mismatch right now between how everybody else is thinking about these problems-- Democrats and Republicans outside of this town -- and how folks are operating here. And we've just got to get that aligned. But we've only got 10 days to do it," he said.
"So I hope that every member of Congress is thinking about that. Nobody can get 100% of what they want. And this is not simply a contest between parties in terms of who looks good and who doesn't. There are real-world consequences to what we do here," he said.
Obama said he wants next year to be a year of strong economic growth.
"I want next year to be a year in which more jobs are created, and more businesses are started, and we're making progress on all the challenges that we have out there -- some of which, by the way, we don't have as much control over as we have in terms of just shaping a sensible budget," he said.
The US President said over the last few weeks he has been working with leaders of both parties on a proposal to get the deficit under control, avoid tax hikes on the middle class, and to make sure that they can spur jobs and economic growth -- a balanced proposal that cuts spending but also asks the wealthiest Americans to pay more; a proposal that will strengthen the middle class over the long haul and grow the economy over the long haul.
