U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday said that he aimed at cutting the federal government's deficit by 4 trillion U.S. dollars over the next decade while spending on education and other investments key to the nation's future.

"We're going to need to cut our deficit by 4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. I've already worked with Republicans and Democrats to cut a trillion dollars in spending. I'm ready to do more," Obama said at a campaign event in Miami, Florida.

"But we're not going to be able to get it done unless we also ask the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on their incomes over 250,000 dollars,the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was President and our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs. That 's what we need to do," Obama added.

He stressed that the nation should recruit 100,000 new math and science teachers and provide 2 million workers the opportunity to study at community colleges, and lower tuition costs for young people in coming years, as education was crucial to the nation's long-term competitiveness.

U.S. public debt has hit 16 trillion dollars, but Republicans and Democrats remained at odds over how to slash the deficit and bolster the economic growth.