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Obama pushes Congress to pass $3.6 trillion budget

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-17 23:57

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is again asking Congress to pass his $3.6 trillion budget, saying it will "spark the transformation" the country needs to remain economically competitive.

US President Barack Obama (C) speaks about the budget after meeting with congressional leaders at the White House in Washington, March 17, 2009. [Agencies]

Appearing Tuesday with the chairmen of the congressional budget committees, Obama said he doesn't "just view this document as numbers on a page." He called it an "economic blueprint for the future."

Obama said the country "can't go back to a bubble economy, an economy based on reckless spending and spending beyond our means." He acknowledged though, that new deficit figures likely to be revealed in coming weeks will make the job tougher.

But he also said, "We don't need more point-scoring. We need more problem-solving."