Obama seeks short-term budget plan to avoid sequester

(USA TODAY) -- President Obama will ask Congress for a short-term budget plan to head off a series of automatic budget cuts scheduled to hit next month.

Facing a March deadline, Obama will call for a small package of spending cuts and tax revenue increases in remarks at the White House early Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

The president is scheduled to speak at 1:15 p.m. ET. Two aides confirmed his plans on the condition they not be named because they did not want to pre-empt his remarks.

In his remarks, Obama will warn the automatic cuts -- known as the sequester -- will damage defense and domestic programs, and create uncertainty that will stunt economic growth, aides said.

The short-term solution is a deficit reduction plan totaling up to $85 billion. Aides said the president is still looking for a major debt reduction for the long tern of more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years.

The president is also expected to renew his call for a "balanced" approach to reducing the nation's $16.4 trillion debt, a plan that includes more tax revenues as well as budget cuts.

Obama has said he will not call for higher income tax rates on the wealthy, which were part of the fiscal cliff deal reached with Congress last month; instead, he has proposed closing tax loopholes and ending certain deductions that benefit the rich.

In an interview Sunday with CBS News, Obama said that even the threat of the sequester has slowed economic growth in recent months.

"Washington cannot continually operate under a cloud of crisis," Obama said. "We can't afford these self-inflicted wounds."