Obama defends green energy push after budget cuts
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ARGONNE, Illinois (AFP) - United States (US) President Barack Obama defended green energy research spending on Friday, two weeks after budget cuts kicked in, warning that those reductions would leave America trailing its global rivals.
In a speech that sought to develop his plan to spend US$2 billion (S$2.5 billion) in the next decade on an energy security program, Mr Obama said such an outlay was needed to ensure jobs and argued that the ongoing cuts could only harm the country.
"And one of the reasons I was opposed to these cuts is because they don't distinguish between wasteful programmes and vital investments," Mr Obama said at the Argonne National Laboratory, a science and engineering research centre.
"They don't trim the fat; they cut into muscle and into bone, like research and development being done right here," he added, at the centre located near Chicago.
