pbs高端访谈:共和党拖延表决对飓风桑迪受害者的援助计划

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF:And that was, after the vote on the fiscal¹ cliff, there was another, a different spending spat² that divided the Republican Party. House Republican leaders refused to take up an aid package for victims of Hurricane Sandy, which the president had called for and the Senate had approved earlier.

　　From the moment the House convened³ today, bipartisan anger filled the chamber⁴. Lawmakers from New York, New Jersey⁵, and Connecticut said the failure to vote on Hurricane Sandy aid was a betrayal.

　　REP. PETER KING, R-N.Y.: We cannot believe that this cruel knife in the back was delivered to our region.

　　REP. ROSA DELAURO,D-Conn.: They said, you are on your own. My friends, our people cannot be on their own.

　　1.jpgJUDY WOODRUFF:The Senate approved a $60 billion storm recovery measure last Friday. House leaders had been considering a pared-down version, when Speaker John Boehner pulled the bill last night.

　　A number of Republicans had insisted on offsetting⁷ spending cuts. But Boehner's decision was lambasted by New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, who charged storm victims have already waited too long.

　　GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE,R-N.J.: America deserves better than just another example of a government that has forgotten who they are there to serve and why—66 days and counting. Shame on you. Shame on Congress. It is why the American people hate Congress. It's why they hate them.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:And President Obama pressed for action in a written statement.

　　It read, in part: "I urge Republicans in the House of Representatives to bring this important request to a vote today, and pass it without delay for our fellow Americans."This afternoon, Speaker Boehner met with the New York and New Jersey delegations⁹. And Congressman¹⁰ King of New York emerged later to say they'd gotten what they want after all.

　　PETER KING: Nine billion dollars on flood insurance this Friday will be voted on. And then, on January 15, the first full legislative¹¹ day, there will be the additional $51 billion will be voted on, and that will come to a total of $60 billion, which was what the total was in the bill that was supposed to be voted on this week.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:The votes will be taken by the new Congress that's due to be sworn in tomorrow.

　　Still here with us are Steven Dennis of Roll Call and Neil Irwin of The Washington Post.

　　And, Steven, Governor Christie was very angry, Congressman King, others from the Northeast very angry. What happened here?

　　STEVEN DENNIS:And it was almost—it was amazing to see almost a meltdown on the House floor last night, with all of these members, Republican members, coming to the House floor and just ripping into their leadership, saying they felt they had been lied to, that they were going to get this before they went home. And then it went poof.

　　And, basically, our understanding is the speaker basically decided¹², look, we just had this big fight over the fiscal cliff. Everybody is angry about the lack of spending cuts. And then we're going to have a bill that spends $30 billion or $60 billion, depending on which bill they ended up bringing to the floor.

　　I think that that was something that, you know, ended up being a P.R. nightmare for them to have hour after hour, whether it be Chris Christie or Pete King or whoever going on the news and saying, hey, don't give any money to the Republican Party if you're in New York or New Jersey.

　　And, within a day, they backpedaled, and, you know, this thing is going to start—on Friday, they're going to get $10 billion and...

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:Changed his mind very quickly.

　　STEVEN DENNIS:Yes.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:They are going to vote. In a couple of weeks, they will vote on the rest of it. So they are going to apparently¹³ get this money now.

　　STEVEN DENNIS:Yes, but it does show a difference between the Republican Party today and where they were during Katrina.

　　They passed Katrina aid, a big package, in a week. You know, this new party needs—you know, they want those cuts. They're not happy with just spending tens of billions of dollars without anything offsetting it.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:So, Neil Irwin, how much money are we talking about here for Hurricane Sandy? The number was $60 billion—$60 billion. It sounds like a lot of money. What. But in the scheme...

　　NEIL IRWIN:It's a lot of money. It's $60 billion. It's a lot of money by any measure.

　　But we're a government that spends $2 trillion a year. We're in a $15 trillion economy. And the thing to remember, that's emergency spending. It is one time. It doesn't change the structural¹⁴ long-term deficit¹⁵ picture by much. So, it's not a huge number in the scheme of things.

　　But it gets back to this ideological¹⁶ issue of, OK, when something bad happens and we have a devastating¹⁷ storm, is the government going to write a check and help that area and help people rebuild and spend whatever it takes to do that, or are we going to have a long, contentious¹⁸ legislative debate to figure out how to offset⁶ that spending elsewhere?

　　And that ideological debate really came up at an inopportune time for a Republican Party that is already frayed¹⁹ in a lot of ways.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:I know some of the Republicans were saying this money should have been offset with spending cuts, and it wasn't. Or it won't be, I guess, is the view right now.

　　NEIL IRWIN:It appears that way. I think the situation is still in flux²⁰ even as we speak. And we will see how it shakes out.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:So, that's one of the things that didn't get done. It is going to be reversed.

　　But there were other things, Neil, that people are looking at the overall impact of this legislation and saying, wait a minute. The deficit reduction is what? We were originally talking at the $4 trillion level. Where does it end up?

　　NEIL IRWIN:Well, it depends on how you count, whether you count assuming that the entire Bush tax cuts had stayed in place and there had been no change or if your baseline is instead the expiration²¹ of those cuts that had been envisioned.

　　Either way you slight it, though, this is not a huge deficit reduction. This is really about the president getting his way to a degree on taxes, and the Republicans getting those Bush tax cuts locked in and getting some other things they like to see.

　　This is not changing in a major way—this is not the long-term deficit reduction bill the nation will eventually need. This isn't the long-term tax reform deal we might need. This is not fixing a lot of the long-term problems we face. This is a deal to get us to see another day.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:And, Steven, that means that they have got—we know there are other fights coming. They have put off the so-called sequester²² vote, these automatic across-the-board spending cuts. That's going to come up pretty quickly.

　　STEVEN DENNIS:Well, I think actually this thing deal makes it harder to do the next deal and harder to do the big deal, because they have now taken a big carrot for Democrats²³, these tax revenues, those are out the door.

　　And Republicans are going to be much less likely to have additional revenue. The president wanted $1.2. trillion. Is he going to get another $600 billion in a couple of months out of this House Republicans? I don't think so.

　　So—and you have this debt ceiling. You have a debt ceiling looming²⁴ in a couple months. John Boehner has something called the Boehner rule, which I think is going to become the new fiscal cliff keyword. The Boehner rule says, hey, do you want $1 in deficit increase? I want $1 in deficit cuts. I want $1 in spending cuts.

　　And the president is saying, I'm not going to negotiate at all. So—and that strikes in two months. You know, that's -- somebody's going to have to give on that, and you know, it could get really ugly really fast.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:If you're—Neil Irwin, if you're looking at this economy right now and looking at this legislation, does it have an impact on the American economy, on unemployment?

　　NEIL IRWIN:It does. So there are some mild negatives that come from the higher taxes, especially the payroll²⁵ tax credit that we—or payroll tax holiday we talked about. Even higher income tax rates are negative for growth.

　　That said, this economy has been plugging along. What Steve is talking about are some really dangerous things, which is we're heading now into another standoff over the debt ceiling. We all remember how that worked out in August of 2011. It hurt business confidence. It floated this possibility of a federal government default.

　　We had a credit downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. Those were all things that really undermined business confidence and made 2011 a worse year than it otherwise would have been. The risk now is that in this next round of brinksmanship and negotiation²⁶, we might see that all over again.

　　Let's hope that this is a crisper series of negotiations²⁷ that aren't quite as scary for businesses and the economy.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:But, in a word, Steven, is that something that members on both sides and the White House are prepared to do?

　　STEVEN DENNIS:I see a lot more brinksmanship.

　　I think it could get very, very ugly. And there's—we might yet test that theory that it's going to take the markets freaking out again before they come up with another deal.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF:We can all only hope that that's not going to happen.

　　Steven Dennis, Neil Irwin, we thank you both.

　　NEIL IRWIN:Thank you.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: There's more on all this online, including a way for you to see how your state's congressional delegation⁸ voted.

1 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

2 spat   

n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声

参考例句：

• Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
• There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。

3 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

4 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

5 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

6 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

7 offsetting   

n.偏置法v.抵消( offset的现在分词 )；补偿；（为了比较的目的而）把…并列（或并置）；为（管道等）装支管

参考例句：

• Dealers, having concluded a forward contract, should always hedge with an offsetting contract. 外汇经营商在签订了一项远期合同之后总是应进行套头交易签订一项相抵合同。 来自辞典例句
• Where does Germany think offsetting shifts into greater external deficits might occur? 在德国看来，这么大的外部赤字应该转移到哪里？ 来自互联网

8 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

9 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

10 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。

11 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

14 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

15 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

16 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

17 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

18 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

19 frayed   

adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His shirt was frayed. 他的衬衫穿破了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The argument frayed their nerves. 争辩使他们不快。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 flux   

n.流动；不断的改变

参考例句：

• The market is in a constant state of flux.市场行情在不断变化。
• In most reactors,there is a significant flux of fast neutrons.在大部分反应堆中都有一定强度的快中子流。

21 expiration   

n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物

参考例句：

• Can I have your credit card number followed by the expiration date?能告诉我你的信用卡号码和它的到期日吗?
• This contract shall be terminated on the expiration date.劳动合同期满，即行终止。

22 sequester   

vt.使退隐，使隔绝

参考例句：

• Everything he owned was sequestered.他的所有财产都被扣押了。
• This jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months.预计这个陪审团将至少被隔离两个月。

23 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》

24 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

25 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。

26 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

27 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。