美国国家公共电台 NPR--The House is set to pass the Democrats' climate, health and taxes bill

The House is set to pass the Democrats¹' climate, health and taxes bill

Transcript²

House passage would cap a run of success for President Biden's party as they face midterms and headwinds from former President Trump's allies.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Today is a day a lot of Democrats thought might never arrive. The House is set to give final congressional approval to a package of historic climate investments, curbs³ to prescription⁴ drug costs and tax changes meant to clamp down on big corporations. It's a far cry from the party's original agenda but caps off a number of recent accomplishments⁵ for President Biden and his party.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Decades from now, people will look back at this week with all we've passed and all we've moved on, that we met the moment at this inflection point in history.

FADEL: To talk through what Congress has gotten done and what it might mean or not mean to voters this fall, let's bring in two familiar voices - NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell and NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Thanks. Good morning. Thanks for being here.

KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE⁶: Hi.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Thanks for having us.

FADEL: So let's start with the Inflation Reduction Act. The Senate approved it last weekend. That was a slog. Is it going to be easier for Democrats in the House?

SNELL: Well, Democrats in the House say it should be. We have heard even some of the biggest skeptics, people who were making really hard-line demands about things they needed to have in this bill, say, well, I guess I don't really need it in this bill and say that they're willing to vote for it. So Democrats feel fairly confident that this will move ahead smoothly⁷, though there may be some procedural delays because Republicans do not plan to vote for this at all and plan to make their objections very clear.

MONTANARO: I think it's really quite the sign of the momentum⁸ that Democrats have now as we pivot⁹ to the fall and are starting to kind of end the primary season. You know, Democrats for a while weren't able to get a lot through. And what we've been hearing for a year-plus has been all of this Democratic infighting about progressives versus¹⁰ moderates and Joe Manchin and what does he want...

FADEL: Right.

MONTANARO: ...The senator from West Virginia. And he was a key player in all of this...

SNELL: Right.

MONTANARO: ...Was able to get over the finish line a really big piece of legislation. And the White House is really trying to encapsulate all of this and say, hey, let's change the narrative¹¹ here a little bit because quite a bit has actually gotten done.

FADEL: How did they finally get to this place? Because, like you said, they've come so close so many times and then end up in failure. So how did we get here?

SNELL: Well, a big part of the way they got there was it was just a lengthy¹² negotiation¹³ that played out the way that a lot of big legislation does. It was key players sitting in a room together and continuing to talk and revisiting things that seemed like they were sticking points but where they had a little bit of agreement. I think in some ways, Democrats I talked to said that they felt like people had built up expectations, that legislation would continue to pass, much like the relief packages that came together very quickly with a lot of agreement among Democrats. Well, that's a special case. A relief package for a pandemic is really different than writing a bill that, in this case, is about $700 billion and writes permanent policy. I asked Elizabeth Warren, who is, you know, one of the most progressive members of the Senate...

FADEL: Right.

SNELL: ...If she felt that Democrats and Democratic voters were playing the long game or if Republicans, who have spent a long time working on policies, decades even, planning out strategies and policies, had an upper hand. And this is kind of how she explained things.

ELIZABETH WARREN: The Republicans have been disciplined. They have stayed in the fight to get extremist justices on the court and to block everything the Democrats want to do. We need to fight just as hard if we expect to beat them back.

FADEL: So there are a lot of progressive priorities, though, that were left aside, at least for now - child care, free college, policing reform, federal voting rights, abortion¹⁴ protections. So how much can this particular piece of legislation heal the rifts¹⁵ in the party?

MONTANARO: Well, it depends on the expectations that people have had. And I think one of the problems that some Democratic strategists have had with how the White House and how President Biden has set these expectations way too high, they think, because there's a lot they feel like has gotten done and that they need to sort of reshape how they're thinking and talking about this. And I talked to Joel Payne, who's a former adviser¹⁶ to former Senate Majority Leader Harry¹⁷ Reid, and he said that, essentially¹⁸, Democrats need to realize this is about as good as it's going to get in a 50/50 Senate.

JOEL PAYNE: I think that should have been the messaging probably earlier. You know, some of the big sunny skies, big skies talk about, you know, hey, we could pass a $6 trillion bill, that always felt very, very hard to reach in this Congress.

SNELL: And another thing that I'd been hearing from Democrats is they needed to make a down payment on their promises, that they made big promises in the campaign, particularly to win the seats that got them to having 50 seats in the Senate. They had to make big promises to voters to get to that point. And they were worried that if they didn't pass some of that, it would be really hard to go back to voters and say, OK, now we're going to do more if you give us more senators, if you keep showing up. And so this gives them a little bit of a foothold, an opportunity to say that they did some of it. And if you Democratic voters keep coming to the polls and electing more Democrats, we'll do more next time.

MONTANARO: You know, a lot of the problem for Joe Biden has been Democratic enthusiasm. I mean, he's down in the, you know, high 30s in his approval ratings. And that's because a lot of Democratic voters are saying that they're not really in love with the job that he's been doing. And what Jon Kott told me is that this really shows that his approach has actually been beneficial and has worked for Democrats.

JON KOTT: There's no question that this 18 months proved that Biden-ism works. And I think progressives and moderates should unite and celebrate this. We're bad at it because I think it's just in the Democratic DNA¹⁹. But this has been a huge frickin' win, and we need to tell voters what it does.

FADEL: Now, the Democrats have been working with the slimmest of margins²⁰ in Congress. So what do their chances to hold on to those slim majorities look like at this point, Domenico?

MONTANARO: Republican and Democratic strategists both still continue to believe that Republicans are favored to win the House this fall. It means only a five-seat majority in the House that Democrats have. And given the way districts have been drawn²¹, given President Biden's approval rating, they still believe that there's enough there for Republicans to likely take back the House. However, one of the things that's important and sometimes gets lost is when the environment starts to shift a little bit and you have Democrats with a little bit more enthusiasm, you know, with abortion rights supporters having some wins lately, that that enthusiasm can help Democrats win at the margins. And those things are important in the House because you need to be able to live to fight another cycle so that if you're out of the House this cycle, potentially, then you could come back in 2024. If you lose by 20, 30 seats, it makes it much more difficult. In the Senate, what we've seen, however, is that a lot of Democratic candidates are actually outpacing President Biden's approval ratings and doing fairly well. The Democrats are a lot more bullish right now that they could actually hold the Senate, you know, because of not just this built-up enthusiasm but some that they see as extreme or problematic Republican candidates.

FADEL: NPR's Kelsey Snell and Domenico Montanaro, thank you both so much.

SNELL: It was great to be here.

MONTANARO: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE ANTLERS SONG, "HOTEL")

1 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》

2 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。

3 curbs   

v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In executing his functions he is not bound by any legal curbs on his power. 在他履行职务时，他的权力是不受任何法律约束的。 来自辞典例句
• Curbs on air travel were being worked out and would shortly be announced. 限制航空旅行的有关规定正在拟定中，不久即将公布。 来自辞典例句

4 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

5 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 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。

7 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

8 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

9 pivot   

v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的

参考例句：

• She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴，表现出万物的女性面貌。
• If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧，手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。

10 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

11 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

12 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

13 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

14 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。

15 rifts   

n.裂缝( rift的名词复数 )；裂隙；分裂；不和

参考例句：

• After that, through the rifts in the inky clouds sparkled redder and yet more luminous particles. 然后在几条墨蓝色云霞的隙缝里闪出几个更红更亮的小片。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
• The Destinies mend rifts in time as man etches fate. 当人类想要再次亵渎命运的时候，命运及时修正了这些裂痕。 来自互联网

16 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

17 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

18 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。

19 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

20 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

21 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。