美国国家公共电台 NPR--Fallout from the GOP's poor showing in midterms continues on Capitol Hill

Fallout from the GOP's poor showing in midterms continues on Capitol Hill

Transcript¹

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., says he will challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell following a disappointing GOP showing in the 2022 midterm elections.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The fallout for Republicans' poor showing in the midterm elections continues on Capitol Hill. Florida Republican Rick Scott is now challenging Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his leadership job.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RICK SCOTT: I'm not satisfied with the status quo. And so I think we ought to have an option.

MART?NEZ: Republicans met for more than three hours on Tuesday to air grievances². Afterward³, McConnell says he welcomes the contest.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MITCH MCCONNELL: Look, I don't own this job. Anybody in the conference is certainly entitled to challenge me.

MART?NEZ: NPR political correspondent Susan Davis is covering the leadership fight. Susan, Rick Scott was the 2022 Senate campaign chairman. He promised but could not deliver a majority. So why does Scott say he should be the leader instead of Mitch McConnell?

SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE⁴: Well, these two senators have been feuding⁵ for quite some time and for most of the 2022 election cycle. They've differed over strategy to reclaim⁶ the majority. And they've also differed on the kind of candidates they thought they would need to get there. Rick Scott announced his bid in a closed-door meeting. He also sent out a letter to colleagues announcing it. And he also said McConnell should have done more to outline a specific policy agenda that Republicans could have ran on in 2022. Now, Rick Scott did do that in a pretty glossy⁷ way. He did a ton of interviews on it. He was also criticized by a lot of Republicans because it included a lot of ideas that the conference had not rallied around, like overhauling⁸ Medicare and Social Security potentially. And, you know, they're pretty politically controversial ideas. I think it's good to think about this election as a bit of a proxy⁹ war for the future of the party. You have sort of the Trump¹⁰-aligned conservatives on one wing. This would include people like Ted¹¹ Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, who are agitating¹² for change and for Scott. And they're also questioning Mitch McConnell's leadership.

MART?NEZ: So when's this vote supposed to take place, and any sense of what kind of support Rick Scott might have?

DAVIS: I think it's fair to call it a longshot bid. Republicans will meet today. Cruz and others have said that they're going to first make a motion to delay the election until after the Georgia special for the Senate seat happens on December 6. Their argument is 2022 isn't even fully¹³ over yet. If that motion fails - and it's expected to fail - then they'll hold the leadership vote today. McConnell is not popular with a lot of the party base. He's not popular with the former president, Donald Trump. But among these 48 senators who are going to cast their votes, he still has a lot of loyalty¹⁴. One of them, Joni Ernst - she's from Iowa - I talked to her yesterday. She said she thought someone like Rick Scott should get to challenge McConnell. He just hadn't made a strong enough case for why it should be him. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, another McConnell loyalist, said he gives Mitch McConnell a lot of credit for what he's done for the party, most notably¹⁵ his role in shifting the Supreme¹⁶ Court ideological¹⁷ balance to the right. Expect Mitch McConnell to win this race, A. But how many votes he gets or how few votes he gets might tell us something about how strong his grip on power remains¹⁸ in the top job.

MART?NEZ: And actually, there's going to be a significant vote later today in the Senate whether to take up a bill to protect the right to same-sex marriage under federal law. And that right is currently protected by a 2015 Supreme Court decision. How's that one looking?

DAVIS: So Democrats¹⁹ have been making a push to codify²⁰ same-sex marriage ever since the court overturned Roe²¹ v. Wade²² and abortion²³ rights. Think of this is a preemptive legislative²⁴ strike. It already passed the House with pretty notable bipartisan support. There's similar support in the Senate. Co-sponsors said this week they think they have 10 or more Republicans who are going to vote for it. Today is a procedural test vote hurdle²⁵. If they clear that and get the supermajority, expect a final vote in the coming days, and it will pass. There is no immediate²⁶ legal threat to marriage rights in this country, but this would essentially²⁷ establish a federal law to protect them if one were to emerge in the future.

MART?NEZ: NPR political correspondent Susan Davis, thanks.

DAVIS: You're welcome.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 feuding   

vi.长期不和（feud的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Riccardo and Cafiero had been feuding so openly that the whole town knew about it. 里卡多和卡菲埃罗一直公开地闹别扭，全城的人都知道此事。 来自辞典例句
• The two families have been feuding with each other for many generations. 这两个家族有好多代的世仇了。 来自互联网

6 reclaim   

v.要求归还，收回；开垦

参考例句：

• I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
• You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时，必须出示这张票子。

7 glossy   

adj.平滑的；有光泽的

参考例句：

• I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
• She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。

8 overhauling   

n.大修；拆修；卸修；翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 )；大修；赶上；超越

参考例句：

• I had no chance of overhauling him. 我没有赶上他的可能。 来自辞典例句
• Some sites need little alterations but some need total overhauling. 有些网站需要做出细微修改，而有些网站就需要整体改版。 来自互联网

9 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

12 agitating   

搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论

参考例句：

• political groups agitating for social change 鼓吹社会变革的政治团体
• They are agitating to assert autonomy. 他们正在鼓吹实行自治。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

15 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

16 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

17 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

18 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

19 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 codify   

v.将法律、法规等编成法典

参考例句：

• The noble,Dracon,was asked to codify the laws.贵族德拉古被选为立法者。
• The new government promised to codify the laws.新政府应允要编纂法典。

21 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

22 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

23 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

24 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

25 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

26 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

27 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。