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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
As President Barack Obama prepares to unveil his blueprint1 for U.S. government spending, White House officials are already defending the document from Republican attack. The Obama budget, to be released later Monday, is expected to call for a mix of spending restraint and tax hikes to shrink the runaway2 U.S. deficit3 during the next decade.
President Obama has long urged what he calls a “balanced approach” of higher taxes and lower spending to fix America’s fiscal4 woes5. He has urged immediate6 measures to stimulate7 the economy combined with long-term budgetary restraint.
White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew says the president’s new budget reflects those priorities.
“The president’s budget is a plan for 10 years. In the short term we need to keep the economy growing, and in the long term we need to get the deficit under control in a way that builds an economy that can last for the future, where we build a manufacturing base, we have Americans with the skills to do the work of the future.”
Lew, who until recently served as Obama’s top budget official, made the remarks in a U.S. television interview.
Early reports say the president’s budget would raise taxes on top earners and force investors8 to pay similar tax rates on stock market profits as ordinary Americans pay on their wages and salaries. At the same time, the Obama budget would reportedly boost funding for U.S. infrastructure9, unemployment benefits, and federal assistance to revenue-strapped states.
Addressing a Washington gathering10 of conservative political leaders and activists11 last week, the Budget Committee chairman in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, dismissed the White House budget blueprint as a continuation of failed and counter-productive Democratic policies.
“His proposals have three things in common: they load massive tax increases on small businesses and hardworking families, they require bureaucratic12 rationing13 in government health care programs, and they hollow out our national security.”
Not so, according to Jacob Lew.
“If you look at our budget, for every dollar of [new] revenue, there are two-and-a-half dollars of spending reductions. So I think it is clearly not the case that this is a budget based on just raising taxes. But we [currently] have tax cuts that go to people who do not need them. We have tax cuts going to the wealthiest people in America, who are going to have to pay their fair share.”
In the first year of his administration, President Obama pledged to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term. The deficit exceeded $1 trillion in 2009 and, according to White House projections14, is expected to do so again this year.
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1
blueprint
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n.蓝图,设计图,计划;vt.制成蓝图,计划 | |
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2
runaway
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n.逃走的人,逃亡,亡命者;adj.逃亡的,逃走的 | |
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3
deficit
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n.亏空,亏损;赤字,逆差 | |
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4
fiscal
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adj.财政的,会计的,国库的,国库岁入的 | |
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5
woes
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困境( woe的名词复数 ); 悲伤; 我好苦哇; 某人就要倒霉 | |
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6
immediate
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adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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7
stimulate
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vt.刺激,使兴奋;激励,使…振奋 | |
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8
investors
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n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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9
infrastructure
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n.下部构造,下部组织,基础结构,基础设施 | |
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10
gathering
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n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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11
activists
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n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
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12
bureaucratic
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adj.官僚的,繁文缛节的 | |
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13
rationing
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n.定量供应 | |
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14
projections
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预测( projection的名词复数 ); 投影; 投掷; 突起物 | |
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