美国国家公共电台 NPR Senate Blocks Green New Deal, But Climate Change Emerges As Key 2020 Issue

Senate Blocks Green New Deal, But Climate Change Emerges As Key 2020 Issue

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Senate is going to take a vote today or tomorrow on the Green New Deal. That's a big-picture plan put out by Democrats² to help combat climate change. Republicans want to turn it into a wedge issue in the 2020 election. Here's how Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley sees it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHUCK GRASSLEY: It's an unworkable, pie-in-the-sky attempt to reshape every aspect of everyday Americans' lives.

MARTIN: Democrats say the Senate vote is an effort to try and divide them on an issue they say requires urgent action. NPR congressional correspondent Susan Davis joins us now. Hi, Sue.

SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE³: Good morning.

MARTIN: So Republicans control the Senate. Republicans overwhelmingly disapprove⁴ of the Green New Deal. Why is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell bringing this to a vote?

DAVIS: It comes down to those three words we hear so often these days, Rachel - Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.

MARTIN: (Laughter) Explain.

DAVIS: (Laughter) So she is, of course - she's the New York freshman⁵ Democrat¹. She has a lot of ideas of where she'd like to see the Democratic Party go and where the country should go. And Republicans are doing their part to try and elevate her ideas going into the 2020 elections. The Green New Deal is essentially⁶ her vision statement for combating climate change. Ed Markey, a Democrat in - from Massachusetts, has the companion resolution in the Senate.

The Green New Deal is also an economic plan. And that's where Republicans are really hoping to seize on this debate. They're trying to frame it as a massive government takeover of your life. And it's part of their push to put - to say that the Democratic Party is moving to the left. And they're already using her and her ideas in campaign ads in House and Senate races two years from now.

MARTIN: So Democrats though feel differently, clearly, than Republicans. All six of the Senate Democrats running for president have co-sponsored the Green New Deal. Do voters really have a grasp of what it is, though?

DAVIS: Well, I mean, this is the frame that I think it's going to come down to. Is this socialism, or is this economic opportunity? And obviously, Republicans are trying to define it in the socialism frame. And they see this as trying to take - make Democrats take a tough vote.

The thing is I've talked to a lot of Senate Democrats in recent weeks, and they've kind of collectively shugged (ph) this maneuver⁷ off. Democrats all plan to vote present today or tomorrow when it comes up as a form of protest. This is all predestined to fail. I talked to Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who told me he thinks Republicans are overplaying their hand. This is what he said.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHRIS MURPHY: I think it's a real stupid political move for them to show how cavalier they are about climate change by playing games with the Green New Deal. If they don't like the Green New Deal, fine. Put up your own idea. But it really just - it smells so disingenuous⁸, especially to young voters.

DAVIS: So Democrats just say Republicans look like they're mocking this issue. And that could hurt them with voters, especially independents who care a lot about climate change.

MARTIN: So what do we know about where the country is right now more broadly when it comes to the debate over climate change?

DAVIS: So the latest national NBC Wall Street Journal poll had some really interesting data comparing the issue from 1999 to today. Today, overwhelming numbers of Americans, two-thirds, believe climate change is real and action is needed to combat it. But that movement, that change in attitude, has come entirely⁹ from Democrats and from the center, from independents. What has not changed is Republicans. The poll showed that in 1999, just 15 percent felt that climate change was an urgent issue. That is the exact same number, 15 percent, who said the same today. There has been no change in attitudes on the right.

MARTIN: NPR's Susan Davis. Thanks, Sue.

DAVIS: You're welcome.

1 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。

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 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

5 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

8 disingenuous   

adj.不诚恳的，虚伪的

参考例句：

• It is disingenuous of him to flatter me.他对我阿谀奉承，是居心叵测。
• His brother Shura with staring disingenuous eyes was plotting to master the world.他那长着一对狡诈眼睛的哥哥瑞拉，处心积虑图谋征服整个世界。

9 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。