【美国精神】第23期(在线收听) |
Explanation: It’s important for Americans to know not only who their U.S. Representative is, but also how he or she is representing them. Americans need to know how their representatives are voting and whether or not those votes accurately (or correctly) represent their interests. If the representative isn’t voting the way that his or her constituents (or the people represented by a representative) want, then those constituents should vote for someone else in the next elections.
However, it could be difficult and time-consuming (or taking a lot of time) to find out how a representative is voting. That is because the U.S. Congress spends a lot of time talking about important issues and voting on many different bills (or ideas for new laws). A normal American wouldn’t have time to read all of those bills and find out how his or her representative is voting. That would be a full-time job!
Fortunately, many organizations try to gather (or collect) this information, summarize it (or say the most important ideas in fewer words), and share that information with voters, so that they can make informed decisions. Some groups provide biographical information (or information about a person’s life) about representatives, as well as their voting records (or a list of how a person has votedon all decisions during a certain period of time). People can quickly read this information to determine how well their representative is representing them.
The website for the U.S. House of Representatives provides the roll call votes, or lists of how representatives have voted over time. However, the other organizations make this information easier to understand, because they also explain what the votes mean for each bill and show changes in a representative’s votes over time. Many people study the voting records published by these organizations before they decide who they want to vote for.
问题:
Name your U.S. Representative.
Answer:
Answers will vary. [Residents of territories with nonvoting Delegates or resident Commissioners may provide the name of that Delegate or Commissioner. Also acceptable is any statement that the territory has no (voting) Representatives in Congress.]
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