President Barack Obama blamed Republicans for a congressional committee's failure to reach a deficit-cutting deal.
President Obama Comments
President Obama vowed to veto any attempt to water down automatic budget cuts that would kick in by early 2013.
Obama said, "I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts."
He said, "The only way to get rid of those cuts is to get Congress to come together and work on a deal."
President Obama said, "There will be no easy off-ramps on this one. We need to keep the pressure up to compromise, not turn off the pressure."
He said, "There are still too many Republicans in Congress who have refused to listen to the voices of reason and compromise that are coming from outside of Washington. They continue to insist on protecting $100 billion worth of tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans at any cost."
Obama said the United States was not facing an imminent threat of default -- as it did last August.
He said that "one way or another" there would be at least $2.2 trillion in deficit cuts over 10 years.
