White House waiting for final report before weighing in on debt commission

President Obama will not comment on the early findings of his debt commission, waiting instead until a final and full report is ready.

With the president in the middle of a whirlwind trip through Asia, White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama "will wait until the bipartisan fiscal commission finishes its work before commenting."

The early report, which includes proposals to cut Social Security benefits and slash spending, has garnered intense negative responses from labor unions and other liberal allies of the White House.

"[Obama] respects the challenging task that the co-chairs and the commissioners are undertaking and wants to give them space to work on it," Burton said. "These ideas, however, are only a step in the process towards coming up with a set of recommendations, and the president looks forward to reviewing their final product early next month.”

Obama charged the commission with finding ways to reduce the deficit. The report is due Dec. 1.

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