US not to cut edu budget as India, China not doing so: Obama

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Oct 16 (PTI) President Barack Obama has vowed
not to have any cut in the US education budget as suggested by
the Republicans, arguing that countries like India, China and
Germany are spending massively on their education system.
"We see an America where every citizen has the skills and
training to compete with any worker in the world. The other
side might think it's a good idea to cut education by 20 per
cent, but let's think about this," Obama said at an election
event in Delaware ahead of the November Congressional polls.
"Do you think that China is cutting education by 20
per cent? Is South Korea cutting education spending, or India,
or Germany? These countries, they're not cutting back on
education. Those countries are not playing for second place.
And neither should we. The United States of America, we play
for first. We play for first place," Obama said.
Millions of youths, because of their student loans, can
go to college. "That's why we want to make our new college tax
credit permanent. This is a tax credit worth USD 10,000 in
tuition relief for each student who's going to college. That's
the America we believe in," the President said.
"That's the America we believe in where the middle class
is growing and where opportunity is shared, and the only limit
to your success is how hard you are willing to work. That's
why the tax cuts we want to make -- the tax cuts we want to
make permanent would go to middle-class families," he said.
Obama said his administration will fight the political
efforts aimed at privatising Social Security. ".... because as
long as I'm President, no one is going to take the retirement
savings of a generation of Americans and hand it over to Wall
Street. Not on my watch," he said.
"That's why we're going to keep fighting to keep the
new protections we put in place for patients and consumers, so
insurance companies can't drop you when you're sick, credit
card companies can't jack up your rates without notice on your
bill," Obama said.
The President said the 'special interest groups' were now
fighting against him in this election. "Right now, the same
special interests that would profit from the other side's
(Republicans') agenda, they are fighting hard, they're
fighting back. To win this election, they are ploughing tens
of millions of dollars into front groups that are running
misleading, negative ads all across America."
"Tens of billions of dollars are pouring in. And they
don't have the courage to stand up and disclose their
identities. They could be insurance companies, or Wall Street
banks, or even foreign-owned corporations. We will not know
because there's no disclosure," Obama said.
This is not just a threat to the Democrats, but it is a
threat to the American democracy, he warned. "The only way to
fight it, the only way to match their millions of dollars is
with millions of voices who are ready to finish what we
started in 2008. And that's where you come in." PTI