The new National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was defined by President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday as a no-holds-barred budget watchdog.

"Everything has to be on the table," in terms of trimming the federal deficit, Obama said, on the day stock markets reeled as Standard & Poor's downgraded Greek debt to junk status,.

He also said that the day he was sworn into office, "the deficit stood at $1.3 trillion, with projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next 10 years."

There was a long-standing political culture in which "folks in Washington deferred politically difficult decisions and avoided telling hard truths," Obama said.

He said, "We're not playing that game."

The president said, regarding the committee's recommendations, "I'm not going to say what's in; I'm not going to say what's out. I want this commission to be free to do its work."

Flanked by the commission's co-chairmen, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, Obama said, "I think I've shown over the last year that I'm willing to do things even when they're not popular." (With Inputs from Agencies)