President Barack Obama is celebrating Father's Day weekend in the United States with a reminder for dads that children want their time and unconditional love above all else.

Obama's parents separated when he was two years old, and the future president met his late father only once more, when he was still a young boy. Raised primarily by his grandparents in Hawaii, the president said he wonders what life would have been like with his father in the home.

Obama says he has learned that children need consistency and discipline from parents to help them to establish their own sense of responsibility.

In the Republican weekly address, Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota focused on the United States' national debt and the economy. Hoeven called on President Obama to send pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to Congress for approval.

Hoeven added that, if ratified, the South Korean free trade agreement alone would create 280,000 American jobs.

VOAnews