Obama's letter

Barack Obama – For many years, America has chosen to spend more money than it earns. The result is that we have too much debt on our nation's credit card – debt that will ultimately weaken our economy, lead to higher interest rates for all Americans, and leave us unable to invest in things like education, or protect vital programs like Medicare.

Neither party is blameless for the decisions that led to this debt, but both have a responsibility to come together and solve the problem. That's what the American people expect from us. Every day, families are trying to figure out how to stretch their paychecks a little further, sacrifice what they can't afford, and preserve their budgets only for what truly matters. It's time for Washington to do the same.

In the short term, my focus is on bringing our economy back to a place where businesses can grow and hire. That's why I want to take a number of immediate measures, such as extending tax benefits to middle-class families and putting construction workers back to work rebuilding our roads and highways.

But over the past few months, I've also said that I'm willing to cut spending in order to reduce our long-term deficit. I'm willing to cut spending on domestic programs to the lowest level in half a century. I'm willing to cut defense spending by hundreds of billions of dollars. I'm willing to absorb the rising costs of health programs like Medicare and Medicaid so that we can meet our obligations to an aging population.

Some of these cuts would eliminate unnecessary spending, weapons we don't need, or fraud and abuse in our healthcare system. Still, some of the cuts affect programs that do good for our country. These are cuts that some people in my own party aren't very happy about, and frankly, I wouldn't make them if we didn't have so much debt.

But the American people deserve the truth from their leaders. And the truth is, you can't get rid of the deficit simply by eliminating waste and fraud, or by getting rid of petty cash and foreign aid projects, as some have suggested. Those things represent only a small fraction of what we spend our money on.

At the same time, it's also true that if we tackle the deficit with spending cuts alone, it will likely end up hitting the elderly and middle-class families hardest. Retired Americans will have to pay much more for their healthcare. Students will have to pay much more for college. At a time of high gasoline prices, we'll have to halt much of the clean energy research that will help free us from our dependence on oil.

That's why people from both parties have suggested that the best way to address our deficit is with a more balanced approach. Yes, we must make serious spending cuts. But we must also ask wealthier individuals and the largest corporations to pay their fair share of taxes through fundamental reform. Before stopping funding for clean energy research, we should tell oil companies and corporate jet owners to give up tax breaks that other companies don't get. Before asking seniors to pay more for Medicare, we should ask people like me to give up tax breaks we don't need.

Revenues increasing: the position of the two parties

An agreement aimed at balancing the deficit is not just a Democratic position. It's a position that has been taken by everyone from Warren Buffett to Bill O'Reilly. It's a position that was taken this week by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. And it has been the position of every Democratic and Republican leader who has ever worked to reduce the deficit in their time, from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton.

There will be plenty of discussion about the details of all these plans in the coming days. But right now, we have the opportunity to do something big and meaningful. This debate shouldn't just be about avoiding the catastrophe of not paying our bills, of defaulting on our debt. That's the least we should do. This debate offers the opportunity to strengthen our economy, restore a sense of justice to our country, and secure a better future for our children. I want to seize this opportunity and ask Americans of both parties – or no party – to join me in this effort.