美国国家公共电台 NPR--Top congressional leaders will meet with Biden to talk about the debt limit

Top congressional leaders will meet with Biden to talk about the debt limit

Transcript¹

NPR's A Martínez speaks with Ben LaBolt, White House communications director, about Tuesday afternoon's debt limit talks at the White House between President Biden and congressional leaders.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

President Biden and congressional leaders are due to meet this afternoon to try and break an impasse² and head off a possible default on the national debt. Biden wants the cap on borrowing raised without any conditions. Republicans want Democrats³ to commit to future spending cuts in programs ranging from school grants to upgrades at the IRS. White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt is on the line. Ben, a couple of weeks ago, I spoke⁴ to South Dakota Congressman⁵ Dusty Johnson, who said that President Biden is going to do what he's always done in the past, which is get in the room and negotiate. But he has said that he will not negotiate on this. So what will the discussion in the room be about today?

BEN LABOLT: Well, the president has outlined a budget that has $3 trillion worth of deficit⁶ reduction in it by eliminating subsidies⁷ to oil and gas companies and big pharma. And so he's laid out a budget approach that has both spending cuts and revenue in it that would get us to some deficit reduction. But this shouldn't happen with default hanging over the American people. You know, if the government defaults, that could cost as many as 8 million jobs and reverse much of the economic gains we've seen during this presidency⁸, when 12 million jobs were created and 800,000 manufacturing jobs were created. And so the president believes the appropriate process for this is the one that already exists, which is the budget and appropriations⁹ process. So he will not negotiate over default. The government has to meet its obligations for bills that it's already accrued¹⁰ over the course of years. But he's happy to negotiate a path to fiscal¹¹ responsibility through the budget and appropriations process.

MART?NEZ: So what are they talking about today then, Ben? I mean, who's going to break the ice first? Who's going to speak first? What are they going to say?

LABOLT: Well, look; I think the president is going to urge congressional leaders to come together to avoid default. They voted to pass a clean debt ceiling bill 78 times since 1960, including three times under President Trump¹²'s administration. So this is a congressional responsibility. It's something that they've done many times. The president introduced his vision for a budget on March 9 that detailed¹³ both the investments he would make to continue our historic job growth, as well as a path to deficit reduction. And by the way, I'd note that there's already been $1.7 trillion of deficit reduction under this president. I think the opening for negotiation¹⁴ is through the budget and appropriations process. And he'll urge Congress to come together to get to work on that now that he's introduced his budget. And the Republicans have put forward, at the end of April, their budget vision.

MART?NEZ: But I guess what I'm wondering, Ben, is if Kevin McCarthy says, no, we're not going to even do any of that until you agree to things now, it doesn't sound like this is going to be a very long meeting.

LABOLT: Well, I would say this. I mean, the Republicans are playing with fire, even getting close to default in 2011. You know, we didn't go past the date. The Treasury¹⁵ couldn't pay its bills. But the credit rating of the United States got downgraded for the first time. And that had significant economic consequences. This is really a manufactured crisis by Republicans. And so the president today is going to urge action. He'll also talk about areas that they can work together. You know, the bill that they passed is really an extreme MAGA wish list of all their priorities that would repeal¹⁶ big parts of the president's agenda. So that's a nonstarter. But they're both committed to deficit reductions. The president has an approach with spending cuts and revenue that would get us there. So there is an opening in the budget process to negotiate and find a path forward on spending and revenue.

MART?NEZ: Is the president open to extending the debt ceiling on a short-term basis?

LABOLT: Well, look; that's not our plan. We believe that default should be taken off the table. And we don't want to go a week, two weeks, a month and have this come back around and be in the same situation with the same threat of recession and job loss hanging over the American people. And so certainly he will urge dealing¹⁷ with this in a real way.

MART?NEZ: You said that Republicans are playing with fire on this, Ben. Does the Biden administration feel that they're in the stronger position here with this meeting happening today?

LABOLT: Well, look; the president didn't manufacture this crisis. This was a crisis manufactured by Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans. You know, they voted to raise the debt ceiling three times under the Trump administration. They passed a $3 trillion tax cut for the wealthiest and corporations. And the bill from that is now coming due. These are bills that the government has already accrued. And so they need to act to make sure that default is off the table. But again, the president recognizes that there is a Republican House. And he's willing to negotiate on the budget through the traditional process.

MART?NEZ: All right. Ben LaBolt is the White House communications director. Ben, thanks.

LABOLT: Thank you.

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 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

3 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》

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

6 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

7 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 appropriations   

n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• More commonly, funding controls are imposed in the annual appropriations process. 更普遍的作法是，拨款控制被规定在年度拨款手续中。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Should the president veto the appropriations bill, it goes back to Congress. 假如总统否决了这项拨款提案，就把它退还给国会。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

10 accrued   

adj.权责已发生的v.增加( accrue的过去式和过去分词 )；（通过自然增长）产生；获得；（使钱款、债务）积累

参考例句：

• The company had accrued debts of over 1000 yuan. 该公司已积欠了1000多万元的债务。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I have accrued a set of commemoration stamps. 我已收集一套纪念邮票。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

12 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。

13 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

14 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。

15 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

16 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

17 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。