OBAMA: “Don't tell me we can afford to shut down the government, but can't invest in our kids"

President Obama told Republicans in Congress that he doesn't want to hear about additional cuts to government programs after the 16-day shutdown.

The president said the country can afford to make investments in areas like education, and he noted that the shutdown cut into the economy.

“Don't tell me we can afford to shut down the government, which costs our government billions of dollars, but we can't afford to invest in our kids,” Obama said at a school in Brooklyn.

“This obsession with cutting for the sake of cutting hasn't helped our economy grow, it's held us back,” Obama said.

Standard & Poor's has estimated that the shutdown took about $24 billion from U.S. economy. Obama blasted “a small group” of House Republicans for causing what he said was a “manufactured crisis.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/video/administration/330715-obama-says-he-doesnt-want-to-hear-about-spending-cuts#ixzz2im2W8a6i