美国国家公共电台 NPR After 2 Years Without A Budget, Debt And Pain Are Mounting In Illinois

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Illinois has gone nearly two years without a budget. That's because of an epic¹ political fight between the Republican governor and Democrats² who control the state legislature. Brian Mackey of Illinois Public Radio reports that the pain of this budget standoff is being felt mostly in places that people don't see.

BRIAN MACKEY, BYLINE³: They're about to play rummy at Fox Valley Older Adult Services. We're in the town of Sandwich about 90 minutes west of Chicago. Most of the people here are elderly. Some have dementia. Others are sharp as people half their ages.

MARGARET DUFFY: Coming here just kind of saved my life at that time, really.

MACKEY: This is Margaret Duffy.

DUFFY: Margie, call me.

MACKEY: Margie is 71. She says she gets winded walking from here to there and has to carry an oxygen tank. But she feels as good as she has in a while. A few years ago, Margie had been laid off from her job. She was getting depressed⁴ until her son got her to start coming to the center.

DUFFY: We laugh, number one. We make jewelry⁵. We paint and have a great lunch. And I don't know what I'd do without it.

MACKEY: This is not an idle concern. Fox Valley Older Adult Services has two contracts with Illinois government for the day center and for a home care service. But because of the budget fight, the state has been a major deadbeat. It owes Fox Valley $478,000, about a third of its annual budget. In order to stay afloat, director Cindy Worsley has had to take drastic steps.

CINDY WORSLEY: We're still serving those people. We are still paying the aides. So how do we do that? We have other bills we're not paying.

MACKEY: She's held off a number of creditors⁶, and eventually she even stopped paying payroll⁷ taxes.

WORSLEY: The IRS won't wait either, but it takes them a little bit longer to get to you. When they do, you have to start figuring out some way to pay it, or you lose it.

MACKEY: This is a story that's repeating itself across Illinois. It's been a sort of stealth government shutdown. There are hundreds of programs that also haven't been paid for homeless teens, AIDS patients and victims of domestic violence. But this aspect of the state budget crisis is happening largely out of public view.

(SOUNDBITE OF AIR COMPRESSOR)

MACKEY: George Cowper of Springfield is filling his tires after a morning bike ride.

I'm just asking people. I'm wondering if you're willing to say. Have you been affected⁸ by the state budget impasse⁹ at all?

GEORGE COWPER: Not that I'm aware of, no. I figure they'll get it together sometime.

MACKEY: In fact almost two-thirds of Illinoians say they have not been affected by the stalemate according to a poll earlier this year.

COWPER: I mean I don't because I'm retired¹⁰, and I don't have a state pension.

MACKEY: The lack of public pressure has made it easier for each side to stay in its corner. Governor Bruce Rauner says he hates to see social services going without funding. But he once talked about using the threat of defunding them as a wedge to force Democrats to go along with his agenda to weaken public sector¹¹ labor¹² unions. So far, Democrats have refused. Most of the state government is still largely functioning through a series of court orders. But Illinois has not been paying many of the nonprofits that provide social services for the state. This has led to a couple of lawsuits¹³. Andrea Durbin is head of the Pay Now Illinois Coalition¹⁴, which represents about a hundred social service providers. She says they're being targeted.

ANDREA DURBIN: What they're doing is they're banking¹⁵ on - in the most cynical¹⁶ way, they're banking on the fact that we give a damn and we won't turn our backs on these clients, we won't solve them out into the streets, that we won't lay off our employees until it's impossible for us to do anything else.

MACKEY: Politicians here are under a lot of pressure to end the impasse. Democrats and Republicans have been meeting this week to see if they can bridge their differences, but providers like Fox Valley Older Adult Services are running out of time. For NPR News, I'm Brian Mackey in Springfield, Illinois.

1 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

2 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》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

5 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

6 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

10 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

11 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

12 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

13 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

14 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。

15 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

16 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。