Obama to release "more ambitious" deficit plan September 19

President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of the United States Congress on the subject of job creation on Capitol Hill in Washington, September 8, 2011.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would propose a deficit-reduction plan on September 19 that will cover the cost of his jobs bill and include "modest adjustments" to Medicare and Medicaid and more taxes for the rich and corporations.

"A week from Monday, I'll be releasing a more ambitious deficit plan -- a plan that will not only cover the cost of this jobs bill, but stabilize our debt in the long run," he said on Thursday to Congress in his speech on job creation.

Obama said the plan would feature additional spending cuts and make "modest adjustments" to the government's Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs for the elderly and disabled and for the poor.

"In addition to the trillion dollars of spending cuts I've already signed into law, it's a balanced plan that would reduce the deficit by making additional spending cuts; by making modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid; and by reforming our tax code in a way that asks the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share," he said.

He indicated that the spending cuts would not happen quickly.

"The spending cuts wouldn't happen so abruptly that they'd be a drag on our economy, or prevent us from helping small business and middle-class families get back on their feet right away," Obama said.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, editing by Anthony Boadle)