美国国家公共电台 NPR Pelosi Says Democrats Have A Responsibility To Look For Common Ground On Health Law

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And we begin this part of the program on Capitol Hill. In a moment we'll hear from Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, an architect of the House Republican Health Care Bill - but first a talk with the leading Democrat¹ in the House, Nancy Pelosi. When Democrats² were in the majority, Nancy Pelosi was speaker, and she shepherded the Affordable³ Care Act also known as Obamacare through the House.

Now after more than six years in the minority, she is watching House Republicans move toward repeal⁴ and replacement⁵ of that same law. And she's our guest today. Welcome to the program once again.

NANCY PELOSI: My pleasure.

SIEGEL: Out of 435 seats in the House, there are just 193 Democrats. With that number, can you do anything more than watch and protest as the Republicans do what they want to the Affordable Care Act?

PELOSI: Well, as you are aware, in my office, I have a painting of Abraham Lincoln, who said public sentiment is everything. And regardless of the number of Democrats in the House, the number of people who are affected⁶ - 24 million who would lose their care depending on public opinion...

SIEGEL: But in the legislative⁷ process, are - in this House, in this chamber⁸, are you essentially⁹ spectators at this stage?

PELOSI: No, we're not because the fact is the more we point out about the shortcomings of the legislation, the fewer votes they will have.

SIEGEL: I want to ask you about something that Speaker Ryan has said. He says, yes, of course there'll be fewer people with coverage¹⁰ because people will be allowed to choose not to have health insurance. Should people have a right to choose whether or not they want health insurance?

PELOSI: Well, let me just say that the speaker has also said that this bill, which takes 24 million people off of health insurance - he calls this bill an act of mercy - an act of mercy. I don't think it's an act of mercy. But the fact is - is that we believe that health care is a right, not a privilege. In order for that right to be shared by everyone, it's very important that we eliminate free riders. Everybody should be participating. The bigger the pool, the lower the cost, the healthier the country.

SIEGEL: Here's a problem that we hear about with the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare mandates¹¹ very broad coverage, covers lots and lots of things. Many middle-class people can only afford a policy that good if they take the option with very high deductibles. They go to the doctor. The checkup is covered, but a recommended, say, surgery - they don't do it because they have a $6,000 or $7,000 deductible first. And in Republican terms, they can't access the benefit that the law...

PELOSI: Well, most of...

SIEGEL: ...Provides them. How do you fix that problem?

PELOSI: Most of the people who can't afford it have subsidies¹² and the rest to cover their insurance in the meantime. But let's go back to where we were before the Affordable Care Act because that was a time where they wouldn't even be able to have any insurance. So what was the purpose of the Affordable Care Act? There were threefold - one, to lower cost; two, to improve benefits and three, to expand access for millions more people. And it's done all three.

SIEGEL: Let me put a hypothetical to you. The Republican health care bill fails. The Affordable Care Act survives.

PELOSI: Yeah.

SIEGEL: More insurers, though, pull out of state exchanges for the same reasons they've been doing that for the past year or two. President Trump¹³ says to you and other leaders in Congress, look; Obamacare is still failing. It's your party's fault. It's the Democrats' fault. Do you then join in some process of replacing the ACA with something else, or do you resist and say, this is on you?

PELOSI: It depends on what he has to say. The fact is what they're doing right now is the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of our country (unintelligible)...

SIEGEL: Well, what could he say to...

PELOSI: ...And throws people off.

SIEGEL: What could he say to invite you in that process?

PELOSI: Look; there hasn't been a bill ever passed of this magnitude, whether it was Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, voting rights, civil rights bill, that was not revisited. Some of the improvements we can have in the Affordable Care Act were there, but the Republicans prevented them from happening. So you can be a self-fulfilling prophecy and say, I'm going to make sure this doesn't work. Now, see; it didn't work.

SIEGEL: But is there something down the road that President Trump could say that you would see as a sincere invitation to compromise on health care?

PELOSI: It's very...

SIEGEL: Or is it over? Is it done?

PELOSI: No, it's not over. The fact is we have a responsibility to the American people to find as much common ground as we can. There has to be sincerity¹⁴, though. They have to know what he's talking about, which so far we have not seen. I don't think he has the faintest idea, the president...

SIEGEL: The president...

PELOSI: ...About the health care thing. Ryan, though, however, is a philosophical¹⁵, right-wing, anti-government - and so an act of mercy for him is to reduce the government's role. So we're talking about two different things. So they're debating whether it's Trumpcare or Ryancare, but neither of them wants it identified with themselves because it's such a failure in the public mind.

SIEGEL: But it sounds to me like one of them is never going to be a partner with Democrats - the speaker - because his ideas are so different from Democratic ideas. And the other one you're saying has no ideas at all about this.

PELOSI: I think that's right. And the more the president might learn about it, then he might see where there is a path because to tell you the truth, the Affordable Care Act - now, it is a private sector¹⁶ initiative. It is - contains many Republican ideas.

SIEGEL: Well, if - are there some changes they could make to their bill that would signal to you...

PELOSI: Their bill is systemically...

SIEGEL: ...All right, it could be...

PELOSI: ...Problematic because it is predicated - understand this about Republicans, and then you'll understand part of what our challenge is here. They always are gearing whatever they do to benefit the high end.

SIEGEL: And that's what's happening, you feel, with this bill.

PELOSI: This is the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of our country in terms of hundreds of billions of dollars going into the pockets of the top 1 percent of the people in our country at the expense of the good health of our middle class and those who aspire¹⁷ to the middle class.

SIEGEL: Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, thank you very much for talking with us.

PELOSI: Thank you.

1 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。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

4 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

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 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

8 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

11 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

12 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 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。

14 sincerity   

n.真诚，诚意；真实

参考例句：

• His sincerity added much more authority to the story.他的真诚更增加了故事的说服力。
• He tried hard to satisfy me of his sincerity.他竭力让我了解他的诚意。

15 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

16 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

17 aspire   

vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于

参考例句：

• Living together with you is what I aspire toward in my life.和你一起生活是我一生最大的愿望。
• I aspire to be an innovator not a follower.我迫切希望能变成个开创者而不是跟随者。