美国国家公共电台 NPR--A bipartisan group of senators blocks a Trump-era plan to realign the VA

A bipartisan group of senators blocks a Trump¹-era plan to realign the VA

Transcript²

The plan would have shut many of the Department of Veterans Affairs less-used clinics and aging hospitals. The senators say they're working on a way to rebuild the VA' infrastructure⁴.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Department of Veterans Affairs is supposed to care for veterans wherever they live, including remote parts of the country. The Trump administration had a plan to shut down many small clinics and some big, aging VA hospitals. Now a group of bipartisan senators is trying to block that deal. NPR's Quil Lawrence reports.

QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE⁵: Glasgow, Mont. - population 3,200 - is a quiet Western town, except when the railroad crossing is closed several times a day to let the BNSF freight trains steam across the Great Plains.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN HORN)

LAWRENCE: The Washington Post once did a nationwide study and declared Glasgow the middle of nowhere because it's the largest town for a hundred miles in any direction, and it's more than four hours' drive from any city. That's a drive 83-year-old former Marine⁶ Robert Kelsey can feel in his bones.

ROBERT KELSEY: The next place I'd have to go is Billings.

LAWRENCE: It's six hours round trip to the VA in Billings.

KELSEY: And Billings, if you drive down there and drive back, it's kind of hard on an old guy like me.

LAWRENCE: As it is now, Kelsey gets a ride from a friend just 70 miles from his hometown of Malta to the VA clinic here in Glasgow. Until this month, it looked like this clinic would be shuttered. Following a law passed under the Trump administration, in March the VA issued the AIR report - yes, that's an acronym⁷ - for Asset and Infrastructure Review. The report looked at where new hospitals should be built, where clinics needed to be renovated⁸ and which ones were underused and should close, like the Glasgow VA.

STEVE BLEDSOE: We were all upset they were going to shut this down 'cause that just makes us longer trips to go out of town. I already go out of town enough as it is.

LAWRENCE: Steve Bledsoe, a Vietnam vet³, already drives to Billings for work on his prosthetic leg. The trip can take nearly five hours if the weather cooperates. Bledsoe and others wrote to Montana senators, including Jon Tester, who happens to chair the Veterans Affairs Committee. Tester had been warning for years that he wouldn't tolerate closing any of Montana's VA clinics. It's a message he's been sending to his local constituents⁹. Here he is speaking on KTVH news out of Helena.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JON TESTER: And that's what I would tell the veterans out there. We're listening to you. We've heard from veterans from all over the country and veterans service organizations that have told us time and time again that this is a flawed process.

LAWRENCE: And the AIR report had recommended closing VA hospitals in Manhattan and Brooklyn. That got New York's Democratic senators on board. Republicans from Ohio, South Dakota and West Virginia, too, had VAs on the list. In all, a dozen senators joined in killing¹⁰ the AIR commission by not confirming any of its commissioners¹¹. But it wasn't just about closing old or underused VAs; it was about building new ones where they're needed most. John Byrnes is an Iraq and Afghanistan vet.

JOHN BYRNES: I live in North Carolina on the East Coast, but, you know, we have two very large VA facilities that were built during the New Deal. It's not really cool to get your health care in a building that's over 80 years old and pushing 100.

LAWRENCE: Byrnes is with Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative group that pushes greater privatization of VA care and supports what he calls right-sizing the VA. He says the lawmakers are ducking the hard choice for a quick political win.

BYRNES: Simple stories are easy to sell, right? So a simple story is, I kept the VA from taking away your clinic, whereas the real story that I would tell is, you kept the VA from building newer clinics, building better clinics, building three regional clinics to replace one hospital that made it a shorter drive.

LAWRENCE: The senators who killed the AIR commission say that they're working on a plan to rebuild VA's infrastructure. In the meantime, they're crowing about saving big VAs but also little ones like Glasgow, Mont. Everyone I asked here was delighted about the news, but I only saw half a dozen veterans go in during the three hours I sat outside. The town is pretty quiet...

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

LAWRENCE: ...Except when the train goes by.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN HORN)

LAWRENCE: Quil Lawrence, NPR News, Glasgow, Mont.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

4 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。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

8 renovated   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
• The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。

9 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件