Obama Signs Patent Reform; Campaigns for Jobs Bill

 　　President Barack Obama has signed legislation to speed the process of approving U.S. patents. The president says the new law is part of his initiative to create jobs and stimulate¹ economic growth.

　　President Obama visited a high school for science and technology near Washington Friday to sign the bill, which is part of his bid to improve U.S. economic competitiveness.

　　Mr. Obama used one of the country's most famous inventors as an example of why the patent laws needed to be updated.

　　“When Thomas Edison filed his patent for the phonograph, his application was approved in just seven weeks.  And these days, that process is taking an average of three years,” the president said.

　　The U.S. Patent Office is expected to open more offices and hire as many as 2,000 new patent examiners in the next year.

　　The president said shrinking a backlog² of almost 700,000 applications will help the economy and create jobs.

　　Friday’s bill-signing was the president’s second visit in a week to the politically important state of Virginia.  He used the occasion to campaign for his $447 billion jobs legislation.

　　“This change in our patent laws is part of our agenda for making us competitive over the long term.  But we have also got a short-term economic crisis, a set of challenges that we have to deal with right now.  What the American Jobs Act does is it puts more people back to work and it puts more money into the pockets of working Americans,” Obama said.

　　Opposition³ Republicans in Congress have indicated that they will be willing to pass some parts of the president’s jobs bill, but not others.

　　John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, is promoting his own proposals for economic growth.

　　Boehner said this week the joint⁴ House-Senate committee considering ways to cut the budget deficit⁵ should not allow tax increases.

　　“Tax increases destroy jobs.  And the Joint Committee is a jobs committee.  Its mission is to reduce the deficit that is threatening job creation in our country.  And we should not make its task harder by asking it to do things that will make the environment for job creation in America even worse,” Boehner said.

　　The White House wants to raise taxes on large corporations and wealthy individuals to help pay for its economic initiatives.

　　Boehner also says the president’s economic policies put an excessive burden on companies that could be hiring more people.

　　White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says independent economists⁶ believe Mr. Obama’s proposals could create between 1.5 million and 2 million jobs.

1 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

2 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 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。

6 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》