Democratic and Republican lawmakers engaged in more emotional debate on Wednesday over government spending. Heated exchanges over budget measures left over from last year provided a glimpse of what is likely to come when Congress tackles President Barack Obama's 2010 fiscal year budget which is expected to arrive on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
美国国会民主党与共和党议员星期三就政府开支问题展开了情绪更为激动的辩论。从围绕去年遗留下来的预算议案进行的激烈辩论可以大致看出国会在处理奥巴马总统的2010财政年度预算时可能出现的局面，预料，这个预算将于星期四提交给国会。
The 2010 fiscal year budget, which President Obama pledged would reflect an intense review of government programs, is due to arrive on the Capitol Thursday.
2010财政年预算定于星期四提交给国会，奥巴马总统保证这项预算将反映出对政府各种计划进行的严格细致的审议。
But even as they begin work on next year's federal spending plan, lawmakers must approve 2009 fiscal year appropriations bills left unfinished because of feuding over spending levels between the Democratic-controlled Congress and former Republican President George Bush.
可是，在他们开始讨论明年联邦开支计划的同时，国会议员们仍然必须批准尚未完成的2009财政年度拨款议案，这些议案之所以未获批准是由于民主党控制的国会与共和党籍前总统布什在开支水平问题上的争论。
Democrats lumped these nine bills into one $410 billion "omnibus" measure the House of Representatives debated on Wednesday.
民主党议员把这9项议案合并在一项总额4100亿美元、包含多项内容的议案中，众议院星期三就这项综合性议案进行了辩论。
However, the legislation contains thousands of "earmarks," or spending provisions inserted by individual lawmakers to benefit their districts, which do not go through the normal budgetary vetting process.
然而，这项议案包含几千项专用拨款，或者叫做特殊开支条款，一些议员为了自己选区的利益加进了这些不需要经过正常的预算审查过程的条款。
That added even more fuel to partisan battles, as Republicans asserted that these earmarks show that Democrats and President Obama are not serious about controlling spending.
这就为党派之战火上加油。共和党人坚称，这些专项拨款表明，民主党人和奥巴马总统并不是真想控制开支。
"We are bringing nine appropriations bills to the floor all wrapped into one big bill, eight percent over the amount spent last year, including some 9,000 earmarks. I just think this is out of control. This is exactly what the American people want us to change," said John Boehner, the House Republican leader.
约翰.博纳是众议院共和党领袖。博纳说：“我们向国会提交了合并为一项大议案的9项拨款议案。这项议案涉及的开支比去年多8%，其中包括大约9千个专项拨款。我认为这是失去控制。这恰恰是美国人民想让我们改变的事情。”
In response, Democrats noted that 40 percent of the earmarks in the measure were placed by Republicans, while adding that the number of such individual spending provisions has declined. "Earmarks today are less than one percent of all of the funds in this bill. As a percentage of federal spending, we have cut earmarks by half in this bill. I think that is doing pretty well," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman, Democrat David Obey.
民主党人回应说，议案中40%的专项拨款都是共和党议员提出的。他们还补充说，这种单向开支条款的数量已经减少了。众议院拨款委员会主席、民主党人欧贝说：“今天的专项拨款还不到这项议案中所有资金的百分之一。作为联邦开支的一部分，我们已经把这项议案中的专项拨款削减了一半。我认为这一点做得很好。”
Estimates of the cost of "earmarks" in the legislation vary. Democrats give a figure of $3.8 billion; an independent group, Taxpayers for Common Sense put the figure at $7.7 billion in more than 8,500 projects.
对这项议案中的专项拨款的所需费用做出的估算不同。民主党人说是38亿美元。一家叫做“纳税人共识”的独立组织则认为这些专项拨款涉及的8500多个项目的总费用为77亿美元。
Some earmarks were requested by former members of Congress now serving in President Obama's cabinet. The issue came up at Wednesday's White House briefing, as spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president hopes that the number of such special provisions will continue to decline. "There has been over the past few years, a downward trend on that line and the president hopes to continue that downward trend," he said.
In the larger debate over government spending, Republican Dan Burton assailed President Obama's spending plans. "You add all that up and it is an astronomical amount of printing of money and borrowing of money and we don't have it and we are borrowing from our kids and future generations. And then on top of that, the president said he is going to cut the deficit in half in four years. That is not possible!," he said.
在围绕政府开支展开的较大范围的辩论中，共和党人丹.伯顿抨击了奥巴马总统的开支计划。伯顿说：“把所有这些加起来，我们印的钞票和借的钱的总额是个天文数字。我们并没有这么多钱，我们是从子孙后代那里借钱。此外，奥巴马总统还说，他要在4年之内把赤字削减一半，这是不可能的！”
Democrat Earl Blumenauer noted that the federal budget went from surplus to deficits under former President George Bush and a Republican controlled Congress. "We didn't hear that when the other side [i.e., the Republicans] ran the economy into the ditch for the last eight years and turned a $5 trillion surplus into a massive budget deficit," he said.
民主党人布卢门瑙尔则指出，联邦预算是在前总统布什当政和共和党人控制国会期间，从盈余变成赤字的。布卢门瑙尔说：“共和党人过去8年把经济搞得一团糟，把5万亿美元的盈余变成巨大的预算赤字，那时我们却没有听到你们这样说。”
House approval of the 2009 omnibus bill will send the legislation to the Senate for a vote. Lawmakers then will have to reconcile the both versions before a final bill can go to President Obama for signature.
众议院批准2009财政年度的综合议案后，还要提交给参议院进行表决。接着，议员们必须协调参众两院有关这项议案的不同版本。然后，最终的议案将提交给奥巴马总统签字。
Congress faces a deadline. Since last year, government operations have been running at 2008 spending levels. Current temporary authority for this expires on March 6.
国会面临着一个最后期限。自从去年以来，政府一直是在2008财政年度预算水平上运作。目前的临时开支授权3月6号到期。 |