美国国家公共电台 NPR--After months of rhetoric, Biden and congressional leaders met to discuss debt ceiling

After months of rhetoric¹, Biden and congressional leaders met to discuss debt ceiling

Transcript²

President Biden heads to a New York district where Republicans eked³ out a victory in 2022. It's part of a push to put pressure on vulnerable Republicans to lift the debt ceiling.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

President Joe Biden and the top four congressional leaders finally sat down together to talk about raising the debt ceiling.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

After the meeting, both the president and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said they were far apart. We really don't know what a U.S. default would do to the global economy, although experts expect it to be devastating⁴. So the leaders agreed to meet again on Friday to keep talking.

MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith is with us now with the latest. Good morning, Tam.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE⁵: Good morning.

MARTIN: Other than agreeing to meet again, did you see signs of any movement?

KEITH: Well, White House and congressional staff are now set to work through possibilities for the next couple of days, and that's a sign that there's more urgency, at least, than there has been for the last couple of months. But there is still a fundamental disagreement. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says Republicans won't agree to raise the debt limit unless the president and Democrats⁶ agree to significant spending cuts, and President Biden says he won't allow the full faith and credit of the United States to be held hostage and says that the conversation about spending cuts needs to be separated from the debt ceiling.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: There's a lot of politics, posturing⁷ and gamesmanship, and it's going to continue for a while. But I am squarely focused on what matters, and we're getting to work.

MARTIN: So is defaulting on the debt still on the table?

KEITH: Well, coming out of the meeting, the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that the U.S. won't default - never has, never will. The two Democratic congressional leaders said the same. And McCarthy said he didn't want it to happen. But he didn't, strictly⁸ speaking, take it off the table because, I mean, that is the leverage⁹ in this fight.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KEVIN MCCARTHY: I'm hoping that the next two weeks are different. I'm hoping this president understands, as the leader of this nation, that you can't sit back and hold the country hostage. You can't be so extreme in your views that you're not going to negotiate.

KEITH: So they are in the accusing-each-other-of-taking-hostages phase of this negotiation¹⁰. The president's position remains¹¹ that he is happy to talk separately about ideas for cutting the deficit¹² by raising taxes and cutting spending. One of the spending cuts that McCarthy has suggested is clawing back some unspent COVID relief dollars. And Biden said yesterday that they could look at that, which is not a no.

MARTIN: So there have been some other ideas tossed around about avoiding default without making a deal and raising the debt ceiling. Is the president seriously considering any of those?

KEITH: Well, he was asked whether he might invoke¹³ the 14th Amendment¹⁴ of the Constitution, which says that the validity of the U.S. debt shall not be questioned. The idea would be that the government would just continue paying its bills even if the debt ceiling hasn't been lifted. And Biden said that he is considering it as an idea but for the future. He said there isn't enough time now to do it because it'd get tied up in court.

MARTIN: So President Biden is scheduled to travel to New York today. What's his message going to be?

KEITH: Well, he is traveling to the congressional district of Mike Lawler, a vulnerable Republican who won in 2022 in a district that Biden carried in 2020. According to the White House, Biden's message will be that Republicans are demanding cuts that hurt teachers, veterans, law enforcement. Lawler will be there, too, and he says his message will be that the president and Republicans need to negotiate.

MARTIN: That is NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith. Tam, thank you so much.

KEITH: You're welcome.

1 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

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 eked   

v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日

参考例句：

• She eked out the stew to make another meal. 她省出一些钝菜再做一顿饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She eked out her small income by washing clothes for other people. 她替人洗衣以贴补微薄的收入。 来自辞典例句

4 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

5 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。

6 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》

7 posturing   

做出某种姿势( posture的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was posturing a model. 她正在摆模特儿的姿势。
• She says the President may just be posturing. 她说总统也许只是在做样子而已。

8 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

9 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

10 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。

11 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。

12 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。

13 invoke   

v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求

参考例句：

• Let us invoke the blessings of peace.让我们祈求和平之福。
• I hope I'll never have to invoke this clause and lodge a claim with you.我希望我永远不会使用这个条款向你们索赔。

14 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。