Weekly Address: President Obama Calls for Compromise and Explains his Priorities on Taxes
每周电视讲话:奥巴马总统呼吁各方妥协,并解释他在想优先解决的税收问题
WASHINGTON – As Congress prepares to focus on taxes when it returns to work later this month, President Obama called on both parties to work together and focus on the areas where all sides agree. First, the President underscored that middle-class families need permanent tax relief, so Congress should permanently extend tax cuts for all families making less than $250,000 a year – 98 percent of the American people. And second, he noted that, with the nation’s challenging fiscal situation, the country simply cannot afford to borrow another $700 billion on permanent tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
华盛顿:国会上月末重新运行后开始关注税收问题,奥巴马总统呼吁两党齐心协力关注双方共同关注的领域。第一，总统强调了中产家庭需要的长期的税收减免，因此国会应该对年收入25万美元以下的家庭——98%的美国人，永久性地延长减税政策。第二，他强调，面对财政困境，国家完全不能承受追加借贷7000亿为富翁们提供永久性减税的政策。
This week, Americans across the country cast their votes and made their voices heard. And your message was clear.
本周，全国上下的人们参加了投票，表达了自己的心声。你们传递出的信息是明确的。
You’re rightly frustrated with the pace of our economic recovery. So am I.
你们对经济复苏的步伐完全丧失了信心。我也是。
You’re fed up with partisan politics and want results. I do too.
你们厌倦了党派之争，希望得到答案。我也是。
So I congratulate all of this week’s winners – Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. But now, the campaign season is over. And it’s time to focus on our shared responsibilities to work together and deliver those results: speeding up our economic recovery, creating jobs, and strengthening the middle class so that the American Dream feels like it’s back within reach.
因此，我祝贺本周的胜利者——共和党人，民主党人以及独立党派人士。但现在，竞选时间已过。是我们团结一致共同关注我们共同的责任的时候了，我们要为以下问题给出答案：加速经济复苏，创造就业，以及巩固中产阶级的地位，只有这样我们才有机会重新追寻我们的“美国梦”。
That’s why I’ve asked to sit down soon with leaders of both parties so that we can have an extended discussion about what we can do together to move this country forward.
这是为什么我呼吁两党领导人尽快坐下来的原因，这样我们能进一步深入讨论如何共同将国家推向前进。
And over the next few weeks, we’re going to have a chance to work together in the brief upcoming session of Congress.
在接下来的几个星期里，我们将有机会在短暂的本届国会任期内共同工作。
Here’s why this lame duck session is so important. Early in the last decade, President Bush and Congress enacted a series of tax cuts that were designed to expire at the end of this year.
这也是为什么卸任前的任期如此重要的原因。早在十年前，布什总统和国会通过的一系列减税政策即将在年末到期。
What that means is, if Congress doesn’t act by New Year’s Eve, middle-class families will see their taxes go up starting on New Year’s Day.
这也意味着，如果国会在新年前夜前没有行动，中产家庭将在新年第一天就看见他们的缴税额上涨。
But the last thing we should do is raise taxes on middle-class families. For the past decade, they saw their costs rise, their incomes fall, and too many jobs go overseas. They’re the ones bearing the brunt of the recession. They’re the ones having trouble making ends meet. They are the ones who need relief right now.
但我们最后做的事情却是向中产家庭增税。过去的十年里，他们眼看着他们的支出增长，收入降低，还有大量的工作流失海外。他们是承受了经济衰退冲击的人们。他们是艰难维持着收支平衡的人们。他们现在是需要慰藉和减压的人们。
So something’s got to be done. And I believe there’s room for us to compromise and get it done together.
因此有些事情必须要做了。我相信还有些空间让我们折衷妥协，共同做些事情。
Let’s start where we agree. All of us want certainty for middle-class Americans. None of us want them to wake up on January 1st with a higher tax bill. That’s why I believe we should permanently extend the Bush tax cuts for all families making less than $250,000 a year. That’s 98 percent of the American people.
让我们从一致的地方开始。我们都希望稳定中产阶级。没有人希望他们在新年醒来就看见高涨的税单。这是我相信我们可以永久性的延长对年收入低于25万美元的家庭的税收减免政策的原因。这将是98%的美国人民。
We also agree on the need to start cutting spending and bringing down our deficit. That’s going to require everyone to make some tough choices. In fact, if Congress were to implement my proposal to freeze non-security discretionary spending for three years, it would bring this spending down to its lowest level as share of the economy in 50 years.
我们还共同希望开始削减开支降低财政赤字。这需要每个人做出艰难的选择。实际上，如果国会执行我的提议，冻结三年的不必要的非安全支出，我们就将可以将支出降低到未来50年的经济发展所能担负的最低水平。
But at a time when we are going to ask folks across the board to make such difficult sacrifices, I don’t see how we can afford to borrow an additional $700 billion from other countries to make all the Bush tax cuts permanent, even for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. We’d be digging ourselves into an even deeper fiscal hole and passing the burden on to our children.
但当我们要求全国人民做出如此艰难的牺牲的时候，我就想不明白我们怎么能够从别的国家追加7000亿美元贷款来延长布什的减税政策，而且还是为2%富翁们减税。我们会让自己陷入更深的财政困境，并将重担压倒孩子们的身上。
I recognize that both parties are going to have to work together and compromise to get something done here. But I want to make my priorities clear from the start. One: middle class families need permanent tax relief. And two: I believe we can’t afford to borrow and spend another $700 billion on permanent tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
我知道两党都需要团结合作，妥协折衷来解决一些问题。但我想将我希望优先解决的问题明确表述如下：第一，中产家庭需要永久性的减税。第二，我认为我们不能承受7000亿美元的追加贷款来为美国富翁永久减税。
There are new public servants in Washington, but we still face the same challenges. And you made it clear that it’s time for results. This a great opportunity to show everyone that we got the message and that we’re willing, in this post-election season, to come together and do what’s best for the country we all love.
华盛顿将有新的公仆出现，但我们依然面临同样的挑战。是你们将这些问题明确提出，那么是给出答案的时候了。这是个重大的机会来向每个人展示我们得到了你们的讯息，我们有信心，在选举后，团结一致，向我们深爱的国家贡献自己最大的努力。
Thanks.
谢谢！
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