密歇根新闻广播 投票表决削减所得税时 共和党意见相左

There's disarray¹ among House Republicans in Lansing today.

The bill to cut Michigan's personal income tax was defeated very early this morning.

That income tax cut was a top priority of brand new Republican House Speaker Tom Leonard. But in the end, he couldn't muster² the votes when 12 Republicans voted no, including Representative Jason Sheppard. Sheppard changed his "yes" vote to a "no."

Speaker Leonard was not happy about that.

To help us understand just what happened, Michigan Radio's It's Just Politics team of Zoe Clark and Rick Pluta joined Stateside today.

Pluta said it all played out in a marathon overnight session.

"It took until 2 a.m. before the bill even actually was put up on the board and they started voting on it," he said.

Lots of negotiation³ went on.

"You might remember that originally this was a four-decade phase-out of the income tax," Pluta said, "but a lot of people, including many Republicans and including our CPA nerd governor Rick Snyder, saying it's too much – that there's no plan here for cutting spending, for coming up with new revenue. And what's at stake here is schools, local services, police and fire and those ever-important infrastructure⁴ investments that we're talking about."

The 13-hour meeting ended with a vote. To the disappointment of Speaker Leonard, the bill ended up three votes short from passing. Twelve Republicans voted "no" while one Democrat⁵ voted "yes."

Clark said a primary talking point for the bill was that middle-class tax cuts would help the average worker.

"We've done some math, Rick and I though, and actually for an average salary of like $51,000 in Michigan, a tax payer would have saved about $82 a year," she said. "That is less than $7 a month. But behind all of those waves, let's go to the calm water underneath⁶ and that is 2018 is an election year and Tom Leonard would like to run for state attorney general."

Pluta agreed:

"A lot of people saw this as the opening line of a convention speech: ‘I'm Tom Leonard and as your Republican house speaker, the first think I did was keep the promise of rolling back your income taxes,'" he said.

Since the vote, disarray among Republicans continues.

First, Rep. Jason Sheppard, who changed his mind and voted no on the bill, lost his position as chair of the House Financial Services Committee.

Then, Rep. Dave Pagel of Berrien Springs planned to hold a press conference today before canceling it.

"He was going to call for an investigation⁷ into how Speaker Leonard handled this income tax rollback vote and the negotiations⁸ that led up to it," Pluta said.

Pluta said Pagel is frustrated⁹ with how the vote went down.

"I think the vote that I've been entrusted¹⁰ with by 90,000 people back home is too valuable to give up unless I'm convinced it's the right policy," Pagel said. "I felt pressure. I think all of us felt a lot of pressure to change our votes."

For more, listen above.

1 disarray   

n.混乱，紊乱，凌乱

参考例句：

• His personal life fell into disarray when his wife left him.妻子离去后，他的个人生活一片混乱。
• Our plans were thrown into disarray by the rail strike.铁路罢工打乱了我们的计划。

2 muster   

v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册

参考例句：

• Go and muster all the men you can find.去集合所有你能找到的人。
• I had to muster my courage up to ask him that question.我必须鼓起勇气向他问那个问题。

3 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

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 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

6 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 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。

9 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 entrusted   

v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He entrusted the task to his nephew. 他把这任务托付给了他的侄儿。
• She was entrusted with the direction of the project. 她受委托负责这项计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》