Washington:
Americans are "completely fed up with Washington", said a furious Barack Obama on Thursday. The harsh statement came from the US President a day after the latest fiscal crisis was narrowly averted and called for talks with Congress on the budget, immigration and farm legislation.
Hours after he signed into law a hastily arranged bill to end a 16-day government shutdown and head off a debt default, Obama said events over the past two weeks had inflicted "completely unnecessary" damage on the US economy.
"Now that the government is reopened and this threat to our economy is removed, all of us need to stop focusing on the lobbyists and the bloggers and the talking heads on radio and the professional activists who profit from conflict and focus on what the majority of Americans sent us here to do," he said.
Obama also renewed his plea for a "balanced approach" to the US budget as House Republicans have ruled out tax increases.
"I understand we will not suddenly agree on everything now that the cloud of crisis has passed. Democrats and Republicans are far apart on a lot of issues," he said. "And sometimes we'll be just too far apart to forge an agreement. But that should not hold back our efforts in areas where we do agree."
