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Obama Backs Budget Discipline

President Barack Obama appeared on Monday at the White House fiscal responsibility summit to stake his claim — amid spiraling federal deficits — as a champion of budget discipline. Obama announced that he will back reinstitution of the pay-as-you-go rules requiring new spending or tax cuts to be offset, and that his upcoming budget will look ahead 10 years instead of five. Obama called for a “full and honest accounting of the money we are likely to spend,” indicating he will eschew the “accounting techniques” and the “exercise in deception” that made past deficits look smaller than they were. Several leading lawmakers and a range of economists and Washington interests were on hand for the meeting, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). The conference was scheduled to conclude late Monday afternoon.

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