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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Yellen warns of 'calamity1' unless Congress raises the debt limit. What's the holdup?
The U.S. government could default on its debt in a matter of weeks if it doesn't raise the debt ceiling.
That would spell "economic calamity," Treasury3 Secretary Janet Yellen warned this weekend.
"Whether it's defaulting on interest payments that are due on the debt or payments due for Social Security recipients4 or to Medicare providers, we would simply not have enough cash to meet all of our obligations," she told ABC's This Week. "And it's widely agreed that financial and economic chaos5 would ensue."
President Biden and Democrats6 in Congress say the U.S. should simply vote to increase the borrowing limit. But Republicans in the House so far have refused to approve any such legislation unless it also cuts future federal spending.
They were joined over the weekend by 43 Republican senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who submitted a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opposing a "clean" debt limit bill.
Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are set to meet on Tuesday to discuss the debt ceiling for the first time since February. McConnell, Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are also expected to be in attendance.
There's a lot at stake and no "face-saving off-ramp" in sight going into the meeting, NPR political correspondent Mara Liasson told Weekend Edition Sunday.
She says there are a few possible outcomes. Among them: Leaders could negotiate a deal and claim a political victory, or decide to kick the can down the road with a temporary debt ceiling increase, which would have to be negotiated later this year and could risk a government shutdown.
Or they could stay at an impasse7 and let the country default, with what economics say will be disastrous8 consequences.
"It's Congress's job to do this," Yellen said. "If they fail to do it, we will have an economic and financial catastrophe9 that will be of our own making and there is no action that President Biden and the U.S. Treasury can take to prevent that catastrophe."
A Republican lawmaker explains his party's stance
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., the chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus10, agrees with Yellen that defaulting on the debt would constitute a calamity.
"We should pay our bills," he told Morning Edition on Monday. "The constitution calls on us to do that and we should absolutely do it."
Why then, asked Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep, are Republicans intent on adding conditions?
Johnson says it would be irresponsible not to, as the country is dealing11 with what he calls "twin crises" of the debt ceiling and the national debt, which is now at almost $32 trillion.
"If you're a family who gets a maxed-out credit card bill and you just pay the bill and increase the limit on your credit cards without having a conversation at the family dinner table about what to do in the future, you're making a big mistake," Johnson says.
He points out that raising the debt ceiling and cutting federal spending have happened in tandem12 before, including under then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Biden in 2011.
Obama agreed to some spending restraints alongside raising the debt ceiling, after a drawn-out negotiations13 process that severely14 affected15 the stock market and lowered the U.S. credit rating.
Similarly, Yellen said over the weekend that "we're likely to see financial market consequences" even before the estimated June 1 default date if Congress doesn't act in the coming weeks.
Republicans control the House and are not without influence in a narrowly divided Senate. So couldn't they work out spending levels through appropriations16 bills, which fund the government each fiscal17 year?
Johnson says there's risk in doing it that way, since "we know that government shutdowns are not the way that any responsible country should be doing its business." He blames Biden's refusal to negotiate for bringing the U.S. this close to the brink18.
"Had we just done our work three months ago, we wouldn't be talking about putting the stock market at risk," he adds. "We'd be talking about the budgetary controls that are moving us in the right direction."
Inskeep notes that many Americans, including Johnson's constituents19, rely on federal funds for things like 401(k) plans, retirement20 funds and Social Security benefits. And he asks: Is Republicans' policy goal worth putting all that at risk?
"We put the retirement plans at risk ... if we do not act," Johnson says. Social Security's trust fund is projected to be insolvent21 by 2034.
However, the debt ceiling bill that House Republicans passed last month doesn't directly address Social Security, and leaders from both parties have said they will not touch entitlement programs in negotiations.
"We have a Washington establishment that has really on both sides of the aisle22 refused to acknowledge the serious crisis that is looming23 before us," Johnson says. "And I think we best sit down like big boys and big girls and address both of these problems, the time is right now."
1 calamity | |
n.灾害,祸患,不幸事件 | |
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2 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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3 treasury | |
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库 | |
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4 recipients | |
adj.接受的;受领的;容纳的;愿意接受的n.收件人;接受者;受领者;接受器 | |
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5 chaos | |
n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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6 democrats | |
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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7 impasse | |
n.僵局;死路 | |
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8 disastrous | |
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的 | |
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9 catastrophe | |
n.大灾难,大祸 | |
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10 caucus | |
n.秘密会议;干部会议;v.(参加)干部开会议 | |
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11 dealing | |
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
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12 tandem | |
n.同时发生;配合;adv.一个跟着一个地;纵排地;adj.(两匹马)前后纵列的 | |
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13 negotiations | |
协商( negotiation的名词复数 ); 谈判; 完成(难事); 通过 | |
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14 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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15 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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16 appropriations | |
n.挪用(appropriation的复数形式) | |
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17 fiscal | |
adj.财政的,会计的,国库的,国库岁入的 | |
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18 brink | |
n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘,边沿 | |
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19 constituents | |
n.选民( constituent的名词复数 );成分;构成部分;要素 | |
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20 retirement | |
n.退休,退职 | |
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21 insolvent | |
adj.破产的,无偿还能力的 | |
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22 aisle | |
n.(教堂、教室、戏院等里的)过道,通道 | |
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23 looming | |
n.上现蜃景(光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼)v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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