White House urges Congress to raise debt ceiling without delay

 　　WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama has insisted on his stance that Congress should increase the country's debt ceiling without delay, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday.

　　"The President has made clear he's not going to negotiate over raising the debt ceiling. It is an obligation that Congress retains for itself," Carney said at the daily briefing.

　　"We have to pay our bills. We're the United States of America; we are not a third-tier economy that goes month to month or every half year and casting doubt on whether or not we're going to meet our obligations. That's not who we are," he noted¹.

　　Some Republicans including U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan have floated the idea of a short-term extension of U.S. government's borrowing authority, in a move to use a government default or shutdown as the bargaining chip to push for government spending cuts.

　　There is a long tradition for Congress acting² to raise the debt ceiling, and Congress should do it "without drama and delay", Carney stressed.

　　At a press conference earlier this week, Obama urged Congress to raise the country's debt ceiling in a timely manner to avert³ dampening investor⁴ confidence and derailing the economic recovery.

　　The U.S. federal government reached its debt limit of 16.4 trillion U.S. dollars on Dec. 31, 2012, and the Treasury⁵ Department was taking extraordinary measures to temporarily postpone⁶ the date of a possible default. The U.S. government is expected to run out of ways to meet all of its obligations between mid-February and early March.

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

4 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

5 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

6 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。