A battle is brewing in Washington over President Barack Obama's proposed federal spending blueprint, widely viewed as the most sweeping plan to boost the U.S. government's role in society in more than a generation. The budget the president unveiled last week would raise spending and fiscal deficits to record levels.
人们普遍认为，奥巴马总统提出的联邦开支预算案是二、三十年来为了让政府在社会中发挥更大的作用而制定的一个涉及面最广的计划。这个计划在华盛顿引发了一场政治争论。总统上星期公布的这个预算案将把政府开支和财政赤字提高到创记录的水平。
President Obama says the American people elected him to tackle urgent needs, from promoting energy independence to reforming health care to boosting educational opportunities, and his three-point-five trillion dollar budget for 2010 makes a down payment on those goals.
奥巴马总统说，美国人民把他推选出来处理最紧迫的问题，从推动能源独立到改革医疗保险到促进教育机会等等。他为2010年提出的3.5万亿美元的预算案是实现这些目标的早期投资。
The White House projects a record-high deficit of $1.75 trillion for the next fiscal year, more than 12 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, the biggest proportion since the end of World War II.
白宫预测，下一财政年度的赤字将达到1.75万亿美元，超过美国国内生产总值的12%以上，是二战结束以来比重最大的一次。
Republicans are aghast.
共和党人对此目瞪口呆。
"It is terrifying in the policy implications as well as mind-boggling [astounding] in the numbers," said Senator Jon Kyl.
来自亚利桑那州的共和党参议员乔恩.凯尔说：“无论从政策意涵还是单纯的数字角度来说，这个计划都是令人害怕和震惊的。”
Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona spoke on the Fox News Sunday television program.
凯尔在接受福克斯星期天新闻采访时作出上述表示。
"This budget adds more debt to our country's future than all of the debt from 1789, when George Washington was president, through Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush," he said.
他还说：“这个预算案给未来增添了更多的债务，超过从1789年华盛顿担任美国第一任总统到罗斯福总统，约翰逊总统，一直到上一任布什总统当政期间所有债务的总和。”
While defending massive short-term deficits as necessary during a severe economic recession, President Obama says his budget will shrink the revenue gap in subsequent years by eliminating unnecessary spending and raising income taxes on the wealthy.
奥巴马总统为巨额赤字的出现进行辩护。他说，在经济严重衰退时期，短期内出现巨大的财政赤字是必要的。他说，通过消除不必要的开支和增加对富裕阶层征收所得税，他的预算在今后几年会缩小财政收入上的差距。
But Republicans note the president also plans a new tax regime on energy consumption that will affect Americans of every income level. They say there should be no tax increases at all while the economy is in free fall. Once again, Senator Kyl:
但是，共和党人指出，总统还计划推出能源消费的新税收政策，各个收入水平的人都会受到影响。他们说，在经济下滑无法控制时，不应该增加税率。
"Tax policy should provide what the government needs without harming the economy and American families," he said. "Today, the $250,000 [earners] and above pay 60 percent of the income taxes in the United States. So how much more do you want this top two percent to pay?"
共和党参议员凯尔说：“税收政策在提供政府所需的同时，不应该影响经济和美国家庭。而现在，收入达到25万美元或是以上的人支付了美国60%的税收。你还希望这些占人口2%的高收入人群再支付多少税额？”
But White House officials point out that President Obama inherited a substantial federal deficit from the previous administration, and his budget includes a tax cut for all but the wealthiest of workers.
但是，白宫官员指出，奥巴马总统从前任政府那里接手了遗留下来的巨大联邦赤字。他的减税政策，除了富裕阶层之外，几乎所有美国人都能享受到减税。
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel spoke on CBS' Face the Nation program.
白宫幕僚长伊曼纽尔在接受哥伦比亚广播公司“面对全国”节目时说：
"Ninety-five percent of Americans will have a tax cut," said Rahm Emanuel. "Nobody will see a tax increase for two years."
“95%的美国人将享受减税政策。在两年内，没有人会看到税款增加。”
Emanuel added that the tax rate paid by top earners will return to the level that existed during the Clinton administration in the 1990s, a decade that saw tens of millions of jobs created in the United States.
伊曼纽尔补充说，高收入阶层支付的税额将会回到1990年代克林顿政府时期的水平。在那10年里，美国创造了数千万个工作机会。
Other administration officials argue it is unfair to focus on future tax increases without taking into account components of the Obama plan that will benefit broad sectors of society. White House Budget Director Peter Orszag appeared on ABC's This Week program.
"Let us also count the benefits that families get through Pell [education] grants, the benefits that they will receive through constraining health care costs, the benefits they get from weatherizing their homes, and so on," said Peter Orszag. "This budget makes the vast majority of American families much better off."
Last month, President Obama secured congressional approval of a massive economic-stimulus package. The backing of three Republican senators proved critical in winning passage. Whether the president can once again attract some level of bipartisan support for his proposed budget remains to be seen.
上个月，奥巴马总统的巨额经济刺激计划得到国会的批准。三个共和党参议员的支持对刺激计划的通过至关重要。总统的预算案是否能再次获得同样水平的两党支持，还有待进一步观察。 |