US President Barack Obama renewed his pledge on Saturday to make job creation his top priority in 2010 but said it was also critical to rein in a record budget deficit that threatened economic recovery. Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to remind Americans of the various proposals he put forward in the last week to spur job growth and tame a $1.4 trillion deficit.

The White House has said Obama is still committed to a promise he made last year to halve the deficit by the end of his term in 2013. But in his radio address on Saturday, he talked only of "reining" in the deficit.

Obama is due on Monday to unveil his proposed budget for fiscal 2011 that begins October 1, and has said it will include a three-year spending freeze on some domestic programs. "We'll launch an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars," Obama said.

Copyright Reuters, 2010