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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
What the debt ceiling measure passed by Congress means for SNAP recipients1
A bipartisan bill to avert3 a historic default has passed the Senate and now heads to the president. One of the key provisions in the bill is being questioned for what it actually achieves.
A MART?NEZ, HOST:
The Senate narrowly passed the debt ceiling bill that will prevent the country from defaulting on its loans.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
It now goes to President Biden to sign into law before the government runs out of money to pay its bills. On Monday, one of the biggest sticking points among negotiators crafting the deal were new work requirements for social safety net programs.
MART?NEZ: NPR politics reporter Ximena Bustillo has been following the process.
Ximena, so is everything all good now with America and the debt?
XIMENA BUSTILLO, BYLINE4: Well, it appears like crisis has been averted5 for now. Here is Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer after the Senate's vote last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHUCK SCHUMER: I'm happy to stand here passing this critical legislation to support our families, preserve vital programs and, most importantly, avoid catastrophic default.
BUSTILLO: Schumer was threatening to keep members here over the weekend to get this through. So this is an accomplishment6. And President Biden said he will sign the bill as soon as possible.
MART?NEZ: OK. Ximena, you've been covering food assistance. I want to play a clip from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who tried to explain why he thinks this bill could actually help people on welfare programs.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KEVIN MCCARTHY: There's going to be people on welfare today that will no longer be on welfare, that they will find a job because of the work requirement.
MART?NEZ: So, Ximena, how is this supposed to help?
BUSTILLO: Well, the House Republicans were threatening to increase work requirements specifically for those ages 50 to 55 for food stamps and Medicaid. Food stamps currently limit so-called able-bodied adults without dependents ages 18 to 50 to three months of food stamp benefits during any 36-month period when they cannot show that they're employed or working in a training program for at least 20 hours a week. But Democrats7 and progressives really pushed back against that.
In the end, there were no changes to Medicaid, and Republicans did win an age increase, though only to 54. And Democrats got something a little extra. Veterans and homeless folks of any age and youth who aged8 out of foster care would be exempt9 from these work requirements. Then the Congressional Budget Office came out with its prediction, which found that there could be a slight increase in participation10.
MART?NEZ: OK. So how might this proposed spending cut end up increasing participation?
BUSTILLO: Well, the Congressional Budget Office is predicting that there could be about 78,000 people added to food stamps. But keep in mind, that is only a 0.2% increase, so statistically11, maybe not as significant. And it predicted an increase in spending levels at the same time. Republicans were really quickly to disagree with the CBO's math, and they instead touted12 it as a win. That's because they see addressing any sort of work requirements as an accomplishment. Here's Republican Representative Elise Stefanik.
ELISE STEFANIK: The Biden administration didn't want work requirements at all. They wanted a clean debt ceiling with no give. And we have accomplished13 this in this legislation.
BUSTILLO: Even though there are these new exemptions14, progressive and hunger groups have criticized the bill because of that age increase. Here's Liza Lieberman, vice15 president of communications for a group called MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, who said these changes shouldn't have happened in the debt limit talks.
LIZA LIEBERMAN: It feels like it's illustrating16 the arbitrary nature of the time limits because it's playing numbers game.
BUSTILLO: And the outcome of this particular policy is really murky17. The White House insists that the amount of people on work requirements before and after will not change, even as Republicans are arguing that they are bringing more people into the workforce18. And a lot of this will come down to how states are going to be able to handle these changes. It's also important to note that this policy and the new exemptions will expire in 2030. So this is all temporary.
MART?NEZ: NPR's Ximena Bustillo.
Thanks for checking in.
BUSTILLO: Thank you.
1 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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2 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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3 avert | |
v.防止,避免;转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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4 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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5 averted | |
防止,避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 ); 转移 | |
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6 accomplishment | |
n.完成,成就,(pl.)造诣,技能 | |
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7 democrats | |
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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8 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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9 exempt | |
adj.免除的;v.使免除;n.免税者,被免除义务者 | |
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10 participation | |
n.参与,参加,分享 | |
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11 statistically | |
ad.根据统计数据来看,从统计学的观点来看 | |
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12 touted | |
v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 );招揽;侦查;探听赛马情报 | |
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13 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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14 exemptions | |
n.(义务等的)免除( exemption的名词复数 );免(税);(收入中的)免税额 | |
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15 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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16 illustrating | |
给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 ); 说明; 表明; (用示例、图画等)说明 | |
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17 murky | |
adj.黑暗的,朦胧的;adv.阴暗地,混浊地;n.阴暗;昏暗 | |
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18 workforce | |
n.劳动大军,劳动力 | |
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