美国国家公共电台 NPR New Democratic Senate Leader Vows To Hold 'Donald Trump's Feet To The Fire'

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

On January 20, Donald Trump¹ will be sworn in as president, and Barack Obama will leave the White House. Also on that day, Senator Charles Schumer of New York will become the most powerful Democrat² in Washington. As the Senate minority leader, he heads his party in the House of Congress that because of Senate rules has really the only chance of stopping or stalling the Republican agenda. And if this week is any indication, Schumer will be spending much of his time responding to statements made by Donald Trump.

In his new office in the Capitol, I asked him about what the president-elect had to say to The New York Times this morning. Before today's intelligence briefing, Trump called allegations of Russian involvement in the election a political witch hunt.

CHARLES SCHUMER: That's not the way to govern. We can't have a Twitter president. This is serious stuff, this governing. And to just, you know, be flip³ and glib⁴ and tweet - nothing wrong with tweeting, it's a good way to reach constituents⁵. And Trump did that very well during the campaign, but you got to do a lot more. And certainly any president - Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative - should keep an open mind until they get the briefing.

CORNISH: At this point, do you think that this process though can accurately⁶ be called politicized? I mean, is there any way to separate it from the election?

SCHUMER: I don't think, you know, knowing the people in the agencies who do this, no, I don't think it's politicized.

CORNISH: Then we moved on to the Democrats⁷' message, in particular job creation in an economy that's struggling to bring back manufacturing jobs.

SCHUMER: The bottom line is we lost this election. And when you lose an election, you don't blink, you don't turn away. You look it right in the eye and say, why did we lose? And I think the number one reason we lost is we didn't have a sharp bold economic message that creates jobs and particularly jobs in the heartland and manufacturing jobs. If you have a sharp bold economic message, you can unite everybody.

So what we are going to do as Democrats is put together a really strong platform that focuses on jobs and economic issues. And then you won't have to make this choice that the pundits⁸ talk about which is, oh, are you going to appeal to the Obama coalition⁹ or the blue collar worker? An economic message, an economic platform unites the factory worker in Scranton, the young woman in Los Angeles struggling to pay her college debt and the single mom in Buffalo¹⁰ who's on minimum wage.

CORNISH: But to implement¹¹ any part of that platform, somebody is going to end up working with Republicans, and it right now does not sound like you're ready to do that.

SCHUMER: We're going to hold Donald Trump's feet to the fire. He campaigned sort of as anti-establishment, anti-democratic and anti-Republican establishments. But if you look at his Cabinet choices, they're all - they're almost by and large hard-right. So what we're going to do, I think things are going to turn around in a year. I think Republicans will start working with us. But at the beginning, our job is going to be to hold Donald Trump and the Republican majority accountable.

CORNISH: But you also have upwards¹² of 10 Democrats in your caucus¹³ who are in very red states, states that Trump won. You've got defections of your own to worry about, don't you?

SCHUMER: Not - on economic issues we are strong and united, and this caucus is united on everything. Take ACA - Obamacare - we had a vote yesterday on keeping all the benefits of ACA, every Democrat voted for it. We had a vote to move forward to debate their bill which would repeal¹⁴ ACA, and not a single Democrat voted no. We did get a Republican vote - Rand Paul. Now they want to eliminate the funding of Planned Parenthood, so people like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are having some qualms¹⁵ about this. So there's even a chance we could defeat their repeal.

CORNISH: Do you think there's always a little something that will draw a defection?

SCHUMER: Look, if Democrats stay united - and that's one of my jobs, so far so good - it'll be much easier to hold them accountable. And if they lose only three votes, they have trouble. And especially since it seems particularly on the House side, but even the president-elect are adopting such a hard-right agenda, makes it easier for us to get some Republican defections. Substantively¹⁶ we're much closer to where the American people are than they are.

They say repeal, but they know that they have to keep the good things in ACA - 20 million people who are covered who wouldn't have been, pre-existing conditions covered. A mom or dad has a child with cancer, and the insurance company can say we're not covering you because your kid has cancer. How about the college kids, 21 to 26, who now get covered?

CORNISH: Are you also listing your bottom line requirements for any Republican alternative that's offered?

SCHUMER: If they want to repeal it, they own it, and they have to come up with an alternative, then we'll look at the alternative. But we're not going to let them repeal it and then say, oh, let's work together to see what we can put together.

CORNISH: But there are no, I guess - is it the mandate¹⁷? Is that the tax subsidies¹⁸? Are there any things in a Republican alternative that would appeal to you?

SCHUMER: There might be a thing or two, but we're not for repeal because with repeal you can't keep all the good parts of ACA.

CORNISH: You know, recently you said to CNN that the only way we're going to work with him - Donald Trump - is if he moves completely in our direction and abandons his Republican colleagues. And you and other Democrats really hated that approach when Republicans took it.

SCHUMER: No. Well, what I've said is we're going to stay true to our values, OK, if you read the whole interview. We have values. We're not going to oppose something just 'cause it has Trump's name on it. If Trump were to say tomorrow - which he said in his campaign - he wants to repeal the carried interest loophole which allows a lot of these hedge funds to pay lower taxes than the average American, of course we'll vote with him, but we're going to keep our values. So take infrastructure¹⁹, where we'd love to get a big infrastructure bill, and Trump campaigned on a trillion dollar infrastructure bill. That's a big bill.

CORNISH: Listening to the House this week, it doesn't look like it's in the front of the line for their priorities.

SCHUMER: No, it's not. But if - but just an example. But then - and I've said this to him in our phone conversations - I said if you're just going to try to do it with tax breaks, you're not going to get anything built and you're going to put huge tolls²⁰ everywhere. You have to do it with real spending. And I said to the president-elect, if you're going to do it with real spending and garner²¹ good Democratic support, you're going to alienate²² your hard-right 'cause they don't want to spend money. It's going to be his choice, that's what I'm saying.

CORNISH: One of the things that I think many people who have opposed Donald Trump is - have found is that you run into that wall of tweets and that ability to seize the news cycle. How do you break through with your message when...

SCHUMER: Talk to...

CORNISH: ...Things can turn around in an hour?

SCHUMER: We stick to the facts. So Trump called me a name yesterday about ACA because I think, you know, we - he's struggling.

CORNISH: Yeah, he used the word clown.

SCHUMER: Yeah. And I said to him - I didn't tweet back a name, that's derogating the debate. I said I understand your anguish²³, Mr. President-elect, because you don't know what to replace a ACA with. But instead of calling names, roll up your sleeves and come up with a replacement²⁴. So I'm not going to descend²⁵ to name calling, but I will answer him and answer him vigorously on the facts. I'm going to focus on people and what they need, not on name calling between politicians.

CORNISH: Charles Schumer, thank you so much for speaking with us.

SCHUMER: Thank you. Thank you very much, Audie.

CORNISH: New York Democrat Charles Schumer is the Senate minority leader.

(SOUNDBITE OF MISSION OF BURMA SONG, "TREM TWO")

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

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 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

4 glib   

adj.圆滑的，油嘴滑舌的

参考例句：

• His glib talk sounds as sweet as a song.他说的比唱的还好听。
• The fellow has a very glib tongue.这家伙嘴油得很。

5 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》

6 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

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 pundits   

n.某一学科的权威，专家( pundit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pundits disagree on the best way of dealing with the problem. 如何妥善处理这一问题，专家众说纷纭。 来自辞典例句
• That did not stop Chinese pundits from making a fuss over it. 这并没有阻止中国的博学之士对此大惊小怪。 来自互联网

9 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

10 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

11 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

12 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

13 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。

14 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

15 qualms   

n.不安；内疚

参考例句：

• He felt no qualms about borrowing money from friends.他没有对于从朋友那里借钱感到不安。
• He has no qualms about lying.他撒谎毫不内疚。

16 substantively   

adv.真实地；实质上

参考例句：

• WTO-consistency had to be secured substantively as well. 与WTO的一致性还必须获得实质性的保证。 来自互联网
• What is called quantum information science is substantively to research information science encoding with quantum states. 量子信息学是近几年迅速发展起来的一门新兴交叉学科，它是量子力学和信息科学相结合的产物。 来自互联网

17 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

18 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

20 tolls   

（缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏

参考例句：

• A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
• The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。

21 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

22 alienate   

vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等)

参考例句：

• His attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith.他离间那两个朋友的企图失败了，因为他们彼此完全信任。
• We'd better not alienate ourselves from the colleagues.我们最好还是不要与同事们疏远。

23 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

24 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

25 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。