密歇根新闻广播 预算问题僵持不下

The ongoing¹ state budget fight between Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the state Legislature has left a lot in limbo². The State Department of Corrections says it now has a $10 million hole in its education budget. That means a brand-new, multi-million-dollar facility being built at the state’s only prison for women will sit vacant.

Michigan Department of Corrections Director Heidi Washington spoke³ with Michigan Radio Morning Edition host Doug Tribou about the funding issue.

The facility in question is a Vocational Village at the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti. Construction on the village is scheduled to wrap up later this month. Washington estimates the building has cost about $6 million.

She says the village is designed to provide several types of training for inmates⁴.

"We will have a computer coding program, and we will have building trades for the women," Washington says. "And we will have commercial truck driving for the women. We will also have cosmetology. We will have our brail program and we will have 3D printing, which is a new trade for us, which will be exclusive at the women's vocational village when we open it."

Washington says unless the funding is restored, the D.O.C. will not be able to hire nine new teachers for the village and won't purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment for the training programs. And, the department will have to lay off more than 75 current employees. But she notes, the funding problems would extend beyond education.

"Our main areas of focus and concern for us are the replacement⁵ of the tethers," Washington says. "(And) the ability to train and recruit an adequate number of correctional officers to fill our vacancies⁶ so that we can safely run our prison facilities."

The department would no longer be able to track 4,600 offenders⁷ using electronic tethers. That's because it needs the funding to pay for the necessary technological⁸ upgrades when Verizon upgrades to its 4G network.

Washington says the problem occurred because of the way the Whitmer administration and the Legislature were looking at the department's budget balances this year.

"There were some funding shifts that occured within our budget that were really based upon assumptions that balances existed in some accounts that frankly⁹ just didn't exist," she says. "So the money wasn't really there, or it wasn't there in the amounts that the budget that the Legislature produced was based on. And we hadn't done our book closing so there were still transactions that had to occur that had not occurred at the time that they took their snapshot."

Despite the ongoing conflicts over the state budget in Lansing, Washington says she's confident the issue will be resolved and the educational funding will be restored.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

6 vacancies   

n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 )；空虚；空白；空缺

参考例句：

• job vacancies 职位空缺
• The sign outside the motel said \"No Vacancies\". 汽车旅馆外的招牌显示“客满”。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

8 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

9 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。