密歇根新闻广播 国会欲限制特朗普使用武力

 

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a resolution to limit President Donald Trump¹'s ability to take further military action against Iran. U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat² representing Michigan's 8th District, sponsored the measure.

The resolution would force President Trump to back off military engagement with Iran unless he gets congressional approval or if it is necessary "to defend against an imminent³ armed attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its Armed Forces." The resolution comes after United States forces killed Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, last week while he was in Iraq.

Slotkin said the resolution is not meant to constrain⁴ the president’s authority to defend the country or its military personnel.

"It’s frankly⁵ just restating what the Constitution says about who declares war,” she said.

On Wednesday, Slotkin and other members of Congress received a classified briefing on the killing⁶ of Soleimani from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top officials. The congresswoman said the briefing left many, including herself, without a full picture of what happened.

Two Republican senators, Mike Lee and Rand Paul, were highly critical about the lack of forthcoming information on the decision to order the attack. Slotkin said she hopes additional reports expected from CIA Director Gina Haspel will bring more clarity as to how that decision was made.

"But I do think Senator Lee has it right in this very, very simple idea that if we're going to be putting any of our U.S. servicemen and women in harm's way either, again, because we want to get into a war or because we slide into a war, we should be having a robust⁷ conversation as a country," Slotkin said.

Slotkin’s resolution would require a vote from both the U.S. House and Senate, but it would not require a signature from President Trump. This is what's known as a "concurrent⁸ resolution." Republican critics say even if the measure passes, it's not legally binding⁹. But Slotkin says it will force members of Congress to have a serious conversation about Congress's war powers, and to put their vote on the record.

"This is the responsibility of this body, to provide oversight¹⁰ into how we put our young people into conflict," she said "And I'm sorry if it's politically difficult for people. That doesn't mean we get to skip out on our responsibilities."

Slotkin said she is relieved that tensions between the U.S. and Iran seem to have calmed in the past few days, but warned that does not mean that the situation with Iran is resolved.

“If anyone thinks that Iran is done responding to the killing of Qassim Suleimani, they just don’t know Iran,” Slotkin continued. “And while they say that they’re done for now, I just unfortunately have to assume that they’re looking at cyber threats, they’re looking at using their Shia proxies¹¹ in Iraq and other places to attack us in a way that sort of obscures their role.”

The House passed the resolution on Thursday. The Senate is required to take it up within 10 days.

This post was written by Stateside production assistant Catherine Nouhan.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 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。

3 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

4 constrain   

vt.限制，约束；克制，抑制

参考例句：

• She tried to constrain herself from a cough in class.上课时她竭力忍住不咳嗽。
• The study will examine the factors which constrain local economic growth.这项研究将考查抑制当地经济发展的因素。

5 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。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

8 concurrent   

adj.同时发生的，一致的

参考例句：

• You can't attend two concurrent events!你不能同时参加两项活动！
• The twins had concurrent birthday. 双胞胎生日在同一天。

9 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

10 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

11 proxies   

n.代表权( proxy的名词复数 )；（测算用的）代替物；（对代理人的）委托书；（英国国教教区献给主教等的）巡游费

参考例句：

• SOCKS and proxies are unavailable. Try connecting to XX again? socks和代理不可用。尝试重新连接到XX吗？ 来自互联网
• All proxies are still down. Continue with direct connections? 所有的代理仍然有故障。继续直接连接吗？ 来自互联网