美国国家公共电台 NPR--Negotiations to raise the debt ceiling drag on as the deadline nears

Negotiations¹ to raise the debt ceiling drag on as the deadline nears

Transcript²

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Democratic House Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts about debt ceiling negotiations. Congressional lawmakers are leaving town for the Memorial Day recess⁴.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

With just a week before a crucial deadline, lawmakers in the White House still haven't reached an agreement to prevent a national default. Most of Congress is already out of town for the Memorial Day recess. Democratic House Minority Whip Katherine Clark is with us to tell us more about this. She's been in touch with the White House and her caucus⁵ about their priorities for a deal.

Good morning to you, Congresswoman. Thanks so much for joining us.

KATHERINE CLARK: Good morning, Michel.

MARTIN: What's your sense of where the negotiations stand now?

CLARK: At this point, we are being held captive by extremists in the GOP. And what do I mean by that? I mean that the fever they have to extract pain from the American people in exchange for their vote to raise the debt ceiling has not broken. And we are there at the negotiating table saying, let's be bipartisan. Let's put the American people first. I can tell you, Michel, we are fighting like hell for them because we are so afraid of what will happen to kids in this country, to veterans, to teachers, to first responders if the extremists in the GOP take us over the default cliff.

MARTIN: Well, they do have the votes, though. So they have the votes to do this. As you know better than anybody, the margins⁶ in the House are so narrow that they do have significant power. So how do you plan to overcome that?

CLARK: What we have done as Democrats⁷ is say we are united because we know whose side we're fighting on. And it's that of families at home. I don't know how our colleagues are going to look veterans in the eye this weekend as we commemorate⁸ Memorial Day. They are holding our veterans hostage. Just look at what they're proposing - $2 billion from veterans' health care. That would translate to 30 million doctor's appointments across the VA system to be canceled. And all of this is to protect their tax scam of 2017. So every single House Democrat³ has signed a discharge petition saying, let's do the right thing. We can have a discussion about spending and deficit⁹ reduction, but it is not and it should never be at the expense of a hostage-taking situation, which is exactly where we are.

MARTIN: So you mentioned that there are clawbacks that you and your caucus specifically oppose. But there are reports that say the Republicans will agree to raise the debt ceiling for two years in exchange for limits on discretionary spending, except for spending on the military and veterans, as well as a $10 billion budget cut at the IRS. Does that comport¹⁰ with what you know, too? Is that accurate? And is that the - sort of the outline of where things are going?

CLARK: Well, I think if they were not still fighting for extreme cuts, we would have a compromise. So I can tell you that they are committed to hurting American families. I mean, their proposal is to cut Medicaid for 2 million people. They are about kids without teachers and parents without jobs. So we are eager for them to come forward, meet the reasonableness that the White House has put forward with some appreciation¹¹ of where they - where the position they are putting our economy in and the catastrophe¹² that is days away. So we stand 213 strong. We have signed a discharge petition. And we are looking for five patriots¹³ across the aisle¹⁴ to come and join us.

MARTIN: Well, you know, all the Democrats aren't satisfied with how President Biden has handled this process. Was it a miscalculation to wait so close to the deadline to actually negotiate in earnest?

CLARK: Let's review the facts of that. The president met with Speaker McCarthy back in February and said, let's put our budgets out and have that discussion about deficit reduction and spending separate from the threat, the extortion, of taking us off the default cliff. And that's exactly what President Biden did. On March 9...

MARTIN: So no complaints.

CLARK: ...He put...

MARTIN: So no complaints about his side of this? No complaints about the president's handling of this at all on your side?

CLARK: Listen. We have a lot of anxiety and frustration¹⁵ on our side because we are dealing¹⁶ with members of the GOP who no longer believe the government should work for people. They don't believe in paving our roads, clean air, and water. We have confidence in the White House that they are fighting for the American people. And we'll get through this.

MARTIN: All right, Congresswoman. We're sorry. We're going to have to leave it there for now. That's Democratic House Whip Representative Katherine Clark. She represents Massachusetts in the House. Thank you so much for joining us.

CLARK: Thank you, Michel.

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

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 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

4 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

5 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

6 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。

7 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》

8 commemorate   

vt.纪念，庆祝

参考例句：

• This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
• We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。

9 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。

10 comport   

vi.相称，适合

参考例句：

• His behavior did not comport with his office.他的行为与他的职务很不相称。
• A judge should comport himself authoritatively.法官举止必须要庄严。

11 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

12 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

13 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

14 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

15 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

16 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。