奥巴马总统每周电台演讲:削减支出与提高富人税率

Hi, everybody.

嗨，大家好！

Over the last few years, Democrats¹ and Republicans have come together and cut our deficit² by more than $2.5 trillion through a balanced mix of spending cuts and higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans.

过去几年里，民主党和共和党携起手来，按照削减支出及提高富人税率的综合平衡方案，削减了超过2.5万亿元的财政赤字。

That's more than halfway³ towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists⁴ and elected officials from both parties say we need to stabilize⁵ our debt.

这已经达成了经济学家们及当选的两党官员们都认为稳定我们的债务需要削减四万亿美元的赤字目标的一半。

I believe we can finish the job the same way we've started it—with a balanced mix of more spending cuts and more tax reform.

我相信我们通过同样的方式一定能完成这一目标—采取更大程度的削减支出及税务改革。

And the overwhelming majority of the American people agree—both Democrats and Republicans.

而且绝大多数美国人都认同这一观点，无论是民主党人还是共和党人。

Now, my preference—and the preference of many Members of Congress—is to do that in a balanced, comprehensive way, by making sensible changes to entitlement programs and reforming our tax code.

现在，我以及国会的众议员们优先考虑的事情就是通过对应得权益计划及税法做出合理的改革达成这样平衡而全面的方案。

As we speak, both the House and Senate are working towards budget proposals that I hope will lay out this kind of balanced path going forward.

而就在我讲话的这个时候，参众两院都在制定我希望的能推动平衡方案的出台。

But the budget process takes time.

但是预算过程需要时间。

And right now, if Congress doesn't act by March 1, a series of harmful, automatic cuts to job-creating investments and defense⁶ spending—also known as the sequester⁷—are scheduled to take effect.

而此时此刻，如果国会不能在3月1日前完成，将导致一系列就业岗位、投资和国防支出自动削减的严重后果，也就是所谓的自动减支将如期发生。

And the result could be a huge blow to middle-class families and our economy as a whole.

这样的结果将对中产阶级家庭及我们的整个经济都会造成重大打击。

If the sequester is allowed to go forward, thousands of Americans who work in fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid off.

如果发生这样的事情，成千上万在国家安全部门、教育部门及清洁能源领域工作的人员将被裁员。

Firefighters and food inspectors⁸ could also find themselves out of work—leaving our communities vulnerable.

消防队员和食品检验员也会相继失业，致使整个社会也将变得脆弱不堪。

Programs like Head Start would be cut, and lifesaving research into diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's could be scaled back.

而像开源计划这样的计划也将被削减，针对癌症及老年痴呆症等重大疾病医疗研究的项目经费将被迫削减。

Small businesses could be prevented from getting the resources and support they need to keep their doors open.

中小企业也将无法得到必要的资金支持而面临关门大吉的窘境。

People with disabilities who are waiting for their benefits could be forced to wait even longer.

而等待福利救助的残疾人士也会等待更长的时间。

All our economic progress could be put at risk.

总之，我们的整个经济都在承担着这个风险。

And then there's the impact on our military readiness.

而且，这对我们的军备也将产生重大影响。

Already, the threat of deep cuts has forced the Navy to delay an aircraft carrier that was supposed to deploy⁹ to the Persian Gulf¹⁰.

大幅削减军费的压力已经迫使海军推迟了原定在波斯湾部署一艘航空母舰的计划。

As our military leaders have made clear, changes like this affect our ability to respond to threats in an unstable¹¹ part of the world.

正如军方高层明确表示的一样，如此的改革已经影响到了我们在面对全球不稳定威胁时的应对能力。

And we will be forced to make even more tough decisions in the weeks ahead if Congress fails to act.

而如果国会不能在未来几周做出行动，我们将会做出更为艰难的决定。

The good news is, there's another option.

但也有好消息，我们还有别的选择。

Two months ago, we faced a similar deadline, and instead of making deep, indiscriminate cuts that would have cost us jobs and slowed down our recovery, Democrats and Republicans came together and made responsible cuts and manageable changes to our tax code that will bring down our deficit.

两个月前，我们也曾面临过同样的最后之期，当时不是采用减少就业，减缓经济复苏步伐的大幅度无差别支出削减计划，而是民主党和共和党一起努力，通过审慎的、可操作的税法改革来削减赤字。

This time, Congress should pass a similar set of balanced cuts and close more tax loopholes until they can find a way to replace the sequester with a smarter, longer-term solution.

而这一次，国会还应通过类似的一系列均衡的削减支出和消除更多税法漏洞的方案，直至他们找到更好的消除自动减支威胁的长远解决方案。

Right now, most Members of Congress—including many Republicans—don't think it's a good idea to put thousands of jobs at risk and do unnecessary damage to our economy.

现在，包括共和党议员在内的国会大多数的议员们，都认为把放弃成千上万的就业岗位，给我们的经济带来不必要损害的方案不是什么好主意。

And yet the current Republican plan puts the burden of avoiding those cuts mainly on seniors and middle-class families.

而当前共和党的方案主要就是避免这些支出削减的重担转给老年人及中产家庭。

They would rather ask more from the vast majority of Americans and put our recovery at risk than close even a single tax loophole that benefits the wealthy.

他们宁可向广大美国人民提出更多要求，将我们的经济复苏置于危险境地，也不愿取消哪怕一项有利于富人的税法漏洞。

Over the last few years, we've made good progress towards reducing our deficit in a balanced way.

纵观过去几年，我们在通过平衡方式削减赤字的道路上已经取得了卓越成效。

There's no reason we can't keep chipping away at this problem.

但我们不能在这一问题上继续为一些细枝末节而烦扰。

And there's certainly no reason that middle-class families and small businesses should suffer just because Washington couldn't come together and eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes, or government programs that just don't work.

而且也没有什么充分的理由，仅仅因为华盛顿不能团结合作，不能取消那些有利于特殊利益集团的税法漏洞或是一无用处的政府项目，就让中产家庭和中小企业受到损害。

At a time when economists and business leaders from across the spectrum¹² have said that our economy is poised¹³ for progress, we shouldn't allow self-inflicted wounds to put that progress in jeopardy¹⁴.

来自各行各业的企业领袖和经济学家们曾指出现在的经济形势一片大好，我们不能让这种自伤自己的行为危害到我们的经济发展。

So my message to Congress is this: let's keep working together to solve this problem.

所以我给国会的忠告就是:让我们共同努力解决这个问题。

And let's give our workers and our businesses the support they need to grow and thrive.

让我们给我们的工人们和企业成长和繁荣所需要的支持。

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

谢谢大家，祝你们周末愉快！

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 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。

3 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

4 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 sequester   

vt.使退隐，使隔绝

参考例句：

• Everything he owned was sequestered.他的所有财产都被扣押了。
• This jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months.预计这个陪审团将至少被隔离两个月。

8 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

10 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

11 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

12 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

13 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

14 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。