Obama asks Congress to end manufactured crises

Calls on both parties to work together to pass budget

President Barack Obama today asked Republicans and Democrats to pass a new budget and called for an end to the cycle of "manufactured crises and self-inflicted wounds" to keep the US economy growing.

Obama, in his weekly address to the nation, underlined the need for keeping the economy growing and called for the two sides to work together for growth and creating new jobs.

"I know that what you often hear out of Washington can sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, a jumble of unfocused noise thats out of touch with the things you care about," Obama said.

"Today, I want to cut through that noise and talk plainly about what we should do right now to keep growing this economy and creating new jobs," he said.

"It begins by ending what has done more than anything else to undermine our economy over the past few years and that's the constant cycle of manufactured crises and self-inflicted wounds," Obama said.

Obama called on both parties to work together to pass a budget that reflects the priorities, making smart cuts in things are not needed and closing wasteful tax loopholes, while investing in areas that create opportunities for the middle class and future generations.

"We need to grow and create more good jobs faster. That's my driving focus. And I'll go anywhere and do anything to make it happen. That has to be Washington's driving focus as well," Obama said in his address.

Obama said the budget exposes what their priorities are for all to see.

"Think about it. We can keep wasteful corporate tax giveaways that working folks don't get, or we could close those loopholes and use that money to pay for things that actually create jobs," he said.

"We can keep harmful cuts to education programmes or we could give more kids a head start, hire more teachers in math and science, and help more kids afford a college education," Obama said.

Obama also talked about investing in renewable energy that creates jobs and lowers carbon pollution. He stressed that this would be better than doling out corporate welfare to big oil companies.