美国国家公共电台 NPR--House Republican lawmakers overcome internal divisions to pass debt ceiling bill

House Republican lawmakers overcome internal divisions to pass debt ceiling bill

Transcript¹

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy secured the support of GOP members to pass a bill to increase the nation's borrowing limit while slashing² federal spending. Democrats³ say it threatens a default.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Republicans finally made an opening bid in the fight over paying federal bills.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Leaders of the House have said they will not pay those bills unless they get something in return. And up to last night, they had not agreed on what they wanted. Now a bare majority does. Speaker Kevin McCarthy got through a bill that extends federal borrowing for less than a year but also demands that President Biden cancel much of his agenda.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KEVIN MCCARTHY: You've underestimated us. But you know the one place that they haven't underestimated? The American public. Why? 'Cause those are the people we were working for day in and day out. And just as it took me 15 rounds to win speaker, the one thing I have promised the American public - I will never give up on you.

INSKEEP: OK, so the House majority now agrees on a position which the Democratic-led Senate is not expected to pass at all. Democrats have said the United States should simply meet its obligations and avoid default.

MARTIN: NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales is here with us now to give us the details. Good morning, Claudia.

CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE⁴: Good morning, Michel.

MARTIN: So let's start with the Republican bill. What's in it?

GRISALES: Well, the centerpiece of it is that it increases the debt limit by 1.5 trillion or it raises it until March of next year, whichever of these happens first. And that's linked to a series of Republican initiatives from a plan to cap spending for several years to efforts to repeal⁵ parts of President Biden's so-called Inflation Reduction Act. It also looks to block the Biden administration's efforts to forgive certain student loans, install requirements for certain adults who seek federal assistance, such as food stamps, and cancels unspent pandemic relief funds.

MARTIN: And the clip that we just heard kind of alludes⁶ to this. It seemed that Speaker McCarthy did not have the votes at some point to pass this plan. Do we know what changed?

GRISALES: Yes, a few things. Republicans saw a breakthrough in closed-door negotiations⁷. One by one, we saw holdouts leave his office and say they were going to support the bill. And this includes one significant change when McCarthy agreed to back off plans to repeal a provision in the original Republican bill to allow tax credits for ethanol production. This is a key concern for Republican members in the Midwest. And in the end, with this razor-thin margin⁸, McCarthy could only lose four members of his conference and indeed only four voted no. Afterwards, he boasted repeatedly to reporters last night that his conference has passed the only bill in Washington that addresses the debt limit and encourages spending cuts.

MARTIN: So this would seem to ramp⁹ up pressure for President Biden to meet with Speaker McCarthy. Now, what is the president saying?

GRISALES: Right. The last time they had an extended conversation about this was in February. Biden has repeatedly said he will not negotiate on the debt limit. And yesterday, following a bilateral¹⁰ meeting and press conference with South Korea's president, Biden addressed this question again on whether he'd entertain another McCarthy meeting.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I'm happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended. That's not negotiable.

GRISALES: So he has said that he will meet to talk about spending but is keeping the debt limit conversation separate. And he went on to argue that Republican presidents would not let this debt limit standoff get this far.

MARTIN: So what's next?

GRISALES: So although this legislation heads to the Senate, it is considered DOA there. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats have said this is a nonstarter and that Congress should pass a, quote, "clean bill" to lift the debt ceiling and then negotiate on spending. But this is basically the next stage in a very dangerous stalemate. The stakes continue to rise for financial default for this country as we get closer to the date where the U.S. runs out of money to pay its bills without a bipartisan deal in hand.

MARTIN: NPR's Claudia Grisales. Claudia, thank you.

GRISALES: Thank you much.

1 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。

2 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

3 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》

4 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。

5 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

6 alludes   

提及，暗指( allude的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the vegetable kingdom Mr. Mivart only alludes to two cases. 在植物界中，密伐脱先生仅提出两点。
• Black-box testing alludes to test that are conducted at the software interface. 黑箱测试是指测试软件接口进行。

7 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

8 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

9 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

10 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。