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Obama: Americans 'Voted for Action'


President Barack Obama holds up a pen as he speaks about the economy and the deficit in the East Room of the White House in Washington, November 9, 2012.
President Barack Obama holds up a pen as he speaks about the economy and the deficit in the East Room of the White House in Washington, November 9, 2012.
U.S. President Barack Obama said in his weekly address that the American people sent a clear message in this week's presidential election. He said Americans "voted for action, not politics as usual."

The president said Saturday his administration's top priority has to be jobs and growth. He said he would not accept any approach to improve the economy that is not balanced.

Obama said he refuses to ask students, seniors or middle-class families to pay down the entire deficit, while people making over $250,000 are not asked to pay "a dime more in taxes."

Obama said his re-election Tuesday proved the majority of Americans agree with him.



Delivering the Weekly Republican Address was House Speaker John Boehner. He congratulated President Obama on his reelection and also called for a bipartisan effort to avert the "fiscal cliff."

"Instead of accepting arbitrary cuts that will endanger our national defense, let's get serious about shoring up the entitlement programs that are the primary driver of our country's massive growing debt," Boehner said.

Referring to the relatively unchanged balance of power in the House and Senate after the 2012 election, Boehner added that if there was a mandate from 2012 election, it was a mandate to "work together to do what's in the best interest of our country."

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