Obama: Revenues Needed For US Deficit Fix

ATKINSON, Ill. - The large U.S. budget deficits can be trimmed without radical surgery, so long as the plan includes some revenue increases, President Barack Obama said Wednesday,

At a town hall meeting in Illinois, Obama said he would present a plan to the lawmakers assigned to identify further U.S. budget savings that goes beyond their $1.5 trillion goal, including spending cuts as well as some revenue raising.

"It doesn't require radical surgery for us to fix it," he said. "If you have a deal that does not have revenue in it, and you still want to close the deficit by say $4 trillion ... you have to drastically cut things like Medicare." (Reporting by Alister Bull, Writing by Laura MacInnis, Editing by Jackie Frank)