2007年VOA标准英语-Analysts: Much at Stake in Coming US House Deba

By Dan Robinson
Washington
10 February 2007

The debate in the U.S. Congress on Iraq shifts to the House of Representatives next week, as lawmakers consider a non-binding¹ Democratic-backed resolution opposing President Bush's military surge plan. VOA's Dan Robinson will be watching events and reports on the objectives majority Democrats³ have for the debate, and steps Republicans are likely to take to emphasize their position on Iraq.

After the attention focused on the Senate, where disagreements temporarily blocked debate on three resolutions criticizing or supporting the president's plan, the spotlight⁴ will be on the 435-member House.

Democratic leaders have devoted⁵ three days for lawmakers to speak for or against a simple resolution expressing support for U.S. troops, but stating disagreement with President Bush's decision to send an additional 21,000 troops to Iraq.

The question for Democrats is how many Republicans they can bring on in support of the measure, which specifically avoids describing the troops increase as an escalation⁶.

In announcing their plan, which could involve as much as 12 hours of debate each of the three days scheduled, Democrats expressed confidence they will be able to attract Republican support.

"This is an up or down vote on the policy enunciated⁷ by the president. We owe it to our constituents⁸ to have that. The president asked for, as he spoke⁹ to us [in his speech on Iraq in January] a thorough debate and we are going to have that in the House of Representatives next week," said Rahm Emanuel, who heads the House Democratic Party Caucus¹⁰.

Republican leaders attempting to maintain unity¹¹ in their ranks call the Democratic resolution a political stunt¹².

John Boehner, House Minority Leader, predicts a majority of Republicans will support the president and asserts a non-binding measure will have no impact on the course the president pursues. "No, because it is a meaningless political stunt. If they want to do something real, well then bring a resolution out on to the floor that either supports the president [or] stops funding, but let's not have some non-binding resolution, let's deal with something real," he said.

Boehner continues to acknowledge skepticism among Republicans that the U.S.-Iraqi anti-insurgent push in Baghdad and al-Anbar province can work.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer dismisses the suggestion by Boehner that the debate will lack meaning unless the resolution is made binding on the president. "The American people will have their representatives for the three days articulate their view on how we ought to proceed, and that is important I think for the president to hear, it is important for the country to hear, and we will assure that that is done," he said.

Whatever the outcome of the final vote on the Democratic resolution, and an alternative measure Republicans may offer, Democrats are pursuing other tactics aimed at having a more direct impact on the president's latitude¹³ regarding troop deployments and funding.

Democratic-controlled committees will subject administration budgets to intense scrutiny¹⁴, part of annual consideration of defense¹⁵ authorization¹⁶ and appropriation¹⁷ bills.

John Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat² and Iraq war critic will play a pivotal role as head of a key defense appropriations¹⁸ Subcommittee which will examine a $93-billion White House request for Iraq and Afghanistan war funding. "We are going to check every cent that is spent by the U.S. government in the hearings on the [Iraq emergency funding] supplemental, and on the ordinary [defense] bill," he said.

In 2005, then majority Republicans responded to Congressman¹⁹ Murtha's call for a phased withdrawal²⁰, or redeployment, of U.S. troops from Iraq by forcing a similar Iraq war debate on the floor of the House.

Fierce rhetorical battles raged over the Republican-crafted resolution aimed at portraying²¹ then minority Democrats as unpatriotic and unsupportive of the troops as in this exchange between Democrat Jim McGovern and Georgia's Phil Gingrey.

MCGOVERN: It is demeaning to those who have raised questions about the war in Iraq, it is demeaning to the American public who now overwhelmingly have questions about this war in Iraq. They want us to take this issue seriously and not just play politics with it.

GINGREY: They [Democrats] are going to have the opportunity today on the floor of this House to vote yes or no, do they want us to immediately pull our troops out of Iraq?

Many of the same issues raised in that debate 15 months ago, which ended with an overwhelming bipartisan 403 to 3 vote against any sudden withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, will likely be heard again on the floor of the House this week.

However, the 2007 debate occurs against a background of drastically deteriorated²² conditions in Iraq, and soured feelings among Americans toward the war, that raise the stakes considerably²³ for Congress and the administration.

1 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

2 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。

3 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》

4 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

7 enunciated   

v.（清晰地）发音( enunciate的过去式和过去分词 )；确切地说明

参考例句：

• She enunciated each word slowly and carefully. 她每个字都念得又慢又仔细。
• His voice, cold and perfectly enunciated, switched them like a birch branch. 他的话口气冰冷，一字一板，有如给了他们劈面一鞭。 来自辞典例句

8 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 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。

11 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

12 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

13 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

14 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

15 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。

16 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

17 appropriation   

n.拨款，批准支出

参考例句：

• Our government made an appropriation for the project.我们的政府为那个工程拨出一笔款项。
• The council could note an annual appropriation for this service.议会可以为这项服务表决给他一笔常年经费。

18 appropriations   

n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• More commonly, funding controls are imposed in the annual appropriations process. 更普遍的作法是，拨款控制被规定在年度拨款手续中。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Should the president veto the appropriations bill, it goes back to Congress. 假如总统否决了这项拨款提案，就把它退还给国会。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

19 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

20 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

21 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

22 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

23 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。