美国国家公共电台 NPR 拜登宣布美两党就基础设施问题达成协议

There's a bipartisan deal today in Washington on an eight-year plan to spend 1.2 trillion on infrastructure².

今天，华盛顿达成一项两党协议，计划在基础设施领域投入1.2万亿美元。

President Joe Biden announced the agreement at the White House following a meeting with 10 senators, five from each party.

乔·拜登总统在白宫与10名参议员会面后宣布了这项协议，每个党派各5名参议员。

They helped craft the plan. Biden celebrated³ the moment as proof that Washington isn't broken.

他们帮助制定了这项计划。拜登将这一时刻作为证明美国政府没有分裂的证据来庆祝。

But this reminds me of the days we used to get an awful lot done up in the United States Congress.

但这让我想起了我们在美国国会完成了很多事情的那些日子。

We actually worked with one another. We got bipartisan deals. Bipartisan deals mean to compromise.

我们彼此合作。我们达成了两党协议。两党协议意味着妥协。

This deal is just the start of what could be a long and difficult process before any new roads or bridges are underway.

这项协议只是新道路或桥梁开始建设之前要经历的进程的开端，而这个进程可能漫长且艰难。

NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell has been following these talks. She joins us now. And Kelsey, to start, what's in this agreement?

NPR新闻驻国会记者凯尔西·斯内尔一直在关注这些会谈。现在她将和我们连线。凯尔西，第一个问题，协议包含哪些内容？

Well, like you said, it is $1.2 trillion, and it includes about $550 billion in new money over what Congress was already on track to spend.

如你所说，这项协议价值1.2万亿美元，其中包括约5500亿美元的新增资金，超过国会已准备好的支出。

And this is focused entirely⁴ on what we've been hearing called hard infrastructure.

这笔资金完全集中在我们听说的所谓硬基础设施上。

So the bulk of that money is for transportation, things like roads and bridges and also transit⁵ and safety and airports, the way we get around the country and the world.

也就是说，这笔资金的大部分将公路、桥梁等交通项目，以及过境、安全和机场等，即我们在美国和世界旅行所需要的基础设施。

There's also money for water infrastructure, broadband internet and beefing up the electric grid⁶ — so those traditional definitions of infrastructure that we often hear.

还有资金将用于水基础设施、宽带互联网和加强电网，这些是我们经常听到的传统基础设施。

So what's missing?

那协议不包含哪些内容？

Well, this doesn't have any of the provisions that Democrats⁷ say are completely necessary, in their minds, to address this new definition of an infrastructure,

民主党人认为，协议中没有包含任何在他们看来完全有必要诠释基础设施新定义的条款，

which they're defining as all of the systems that allow people to participate in the economy.

新定义指所有允许人们参与经济的系统。

So that means none of the child care and elder care provisions that they were discussing, none of the tax credits

因此，这指他们讨论的儿童保育和老年护理条款，任何税收减免条款

or most of the climate change provisions that Democrats wanted to have in any infrastructure bill.

或民主党希望在任何基础设施法案中涵盖的大部分气候变化条款均未纳入协议。

So this is strictly⁸ an agreement on a framework for addressing the areas where Democrats and Republicans agree on the definition of infrastructure and how they want to go about paying for it.

因此，这严格来说是一项框架协议，诠释民主党和共和党在基础设施定义上达成一致的领域，并确定支付基础设施计划的方式。

So why are Biden and negotiators essentially⁹ celebrating this as proof that Congress works?

那为何拜登和谈判代表都将这项协议作为国会在发挥作用的证据来庆祝？

Well, they are right. It is not insignificant¹⁰ for them to be getting a deal right now.

他们说得没错。对他来说说，现在达成协议并非不重要。

Many people in Washington thought it was impossible to get any kind of an agreement on this, and the group has certainly proven them wrong on that front.

华盛顿的许多人认为，在这方面不可能达成任何协议，但谈判小组已经明确证明他们的想法是错的。

You know, some Democrats were agitating¹¹ for Biden to walk away from this weeks ago, and they wanted to move ahead without any Republicans.

几周之前，部分民主党人鼓动拜登退出谈判，他们想在没有共和党人的情况下继续推进。

You know, Biden and these negotiators in the group said it was critical that they find a way.

拜登和小组中的谈判代表表示，找到方法非常关键。

Maine Republican Susan Collins put it this way.

以下是缅因州共和党人苏珊·柯林斯所说。

It was essential to show the American people that the Senate can function, that we can work in a bipartisan way.

必须向美国人民证明参议院可以发挥作用，我们可以以两党合作的方式工作。

And in many ways, they proved that. They were able to get an agreement. They were able to do something that, you know, Biden could sign onto.

从很多方面来说，他们证明了这一点。他们达成了协议。他们能做成需要拜登签字的事情。

And they are moving forward in a way that they think that they can make this law.

他们正在以一种他们认为自己能制定这项法律的方式前进。

So from your reporting, I understand this is just the start. Could this move quickly?

从你的报道来看，我明白这只是开始。那能快速推进吗？

It probably can't. You know, Biden did a press conference after they announced this where he added a really important caveat¹² to all of this.

可能不行。在他们宣布这一消息后，拜登召开了记者会，在会上对所有这些附加了一个非常重要的警告。

He said he wants Democrats to work on a separate bill to address that whole rest of the proposals, all those human infrastructure parts we were just talking about.

他表示，他希望民主党人制定一项单独的法案，解决所有其他提案，所有我们刚才提到的人力基础设施部分。

And he wants to pass those policies, even if they have to use special budget rules to do it without any Republican votes.

他希望通过这些政策，即使在没有共和党参加投票的情况下，他们必须使用特殊的预算规则来做到这一点。

He said he wouldn't sign a bipartisan bill unless they did that. You know, that's in part because progressives in the House are pressuring leaders to do that.

他表示，除非他们能这样做，否则他不会签署两党法案。部分原因是众议院的进步派正在迫使领袖们这样做。

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters today that she won't allow a vote on the bipartisan elements at all

众议院议长南希·佩洛西今天对记者表示，她不会允许就两党协议进行投票，

unless Senate Democrats also pass that human infrastructure through budget reconciliation¹³, which allows them to avoid the filibuster¹⁴.

除非参议院民主党利用预算和解通过这项人力基础设施，这样他们就能避免受到阻挠。

There won't be an infrastructure bill unless we have a reconciliation bill. Plain and simple.

没有和解法案，就没有基础设施法案。简单明了。

And the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus¹⁵, Pramila Jayapal, put out a statement backing that strategy. But that's complicated.

国会进步党团领袖普拉米拉·贾亚帕尔发表声明支持这项战略。但这很复杂。

How do they move forward?

他们是如何向前推进的？

You know, timing¹⁶ will be a really big part of this. They need to pass identical budgets.

时间是其中一个非常重要的部分。他们需要通过相同的预算。

They need to go through the whole budget process, and they need to make sure that they have enough votes for these packages.

他们需要完成整个预算过程，需要确保他们有足够的选票支持这些方案。

Doesn't have to be the same coalitions¹⁷ of people to support the bipartisan bill as the partisan¹ bill, but they have to do it,

支持两党法案的人不必和支持党派法案的相同，但他们必须这样做，

and they have to do it in a way that satisfies progressives in the House and moderates in the Senate.

而且必须令众议院进步人士和参议院温和派满意。

That's NPR's Kelsey Snell. Thanks for your reporting.

以上是NPR新闻的凯尔西·斯奈尔带来的报道。谢谢你的报道。

Thanks for having me.

谢谢你们邀请我。

1 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

6 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

7 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》

8 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 insignificant   

adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的

参考例句：

• In winter the effect was found to be insignificant.在冬季，这种作用是不明显的。
• This problem was insignificant compared to others she faced.这一问题与她面临的其他问题比较起来算不得什么。

11 agitating   

搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论

参考例句：

• political groups agitating for social change 鼓吹社会变革的政治团体
• They are agitating to assert autonomy. 他们正在鼓吹实行自治。

12 caveat   

n.警告； 防止误解的说明

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling.为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。
• As I have written before,that's quite a caveat.正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。

13 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

14 filibuster   

n.妨碍议事，阻挠；v.阻挠

参考例句：

• A senator dragged the subject in as a filibuster.一个参议员硬把这个题目拉扯进来，作为一种阻碍议事的手法。
• The democrats organized a filibuster in the senate.民主党党员在参议院上组织了阻挠议事。

15 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

16 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

17 coalitions   

结合体，同盟( coalition的名词复数 )； （两党或多党）联合政府

参考例句：

• History testifies to the ineptitude of coalitions in waging war. 历史昭示我们，多数国家联合作战，其进行甚为困难。
• All the coalitions in history have disintegrated sooner or later. 历史上任何联盟迟早都垮台了。