美国国家公共电台 NPR Advocates Say Trump Budget Cuts Will Hurt Country's Most Vulnerable

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

There are a lot of critics of President Trump¹'s budget proposal. Even members of his own party have said the plan is dead on arrival when it comes to Congress. Advocates for the poor are also expressing concern about the president's newly released budget plan. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

PAM FESSLER, BYLINE²: At a hearing in New York City this week, public housing resident Sheryl Braxton complained about all the problems where she lives.

SHERYL BRAXTON: We have more mold issues, garbage issues, a water issue with lead. And it's really bad.

FESSLER: The city has a backlog³ of about $17 billion in needed repairs for its aging public housing stock. But the federal program that funds the work would be severely⁴ threatened under President Trump's budget plan. He's proposed cutting $6 billion, or 13 percent, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provides aid to more than 4 million families.

SUNIA ZATERMAN: The most vulnerable households, the most extremely low-income households. So it's very alarming.

FESSLER: Sunia Zaterman runs the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities. She says the cuts, which need congressional approval, would add to an already severe housing shortage for the poor.

ZATERMAN: Almost half of the occupants are either seniors or persons with disabilities. We have over 700,000 children living in public housing.

FESSLER: And she says many of these people would be affected⁵ by other cuts proposed in Trump's budget. He wants to eliminate legal services for the poor and money to help low-income families pay their heating bills. The budget would also get rid of the $3 billion Community Development Block Grant Program which cities use to fix up distressed⁶ neighborhoods, and the Community Services Block Grant, which funds local anti-poverty programs such as Meals on Wheels for homebound seniors.

DAN PRUETT: I can't understand why something like that would be cut.

FESSLER: Dan Pruett runs Meals on Wheels Central Texas, which gets a third of its funding from the government. He says the meals they deliver allow many low-income seniors to stay in their homes, something that might now be threatened.

PRUETT: I would say that the number of people having to go to nursing home care or some alternative type of care that's more expensive, that's very real. So we save the taxpayers⁷ money, no question about it.

FESSLER: But Trump officials say they too want to save the taxpayers money and that the programs targeted for cuts are wasteful⁸ and ineffective. OMB director Mick Mulvaney said that includes community block grants that fund things like Meals on Wheels. He says the government's spent billions of dollars with little to show for it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MICK MULVANEY: We cannot defend that anymore. We're $20 trillion in debt. We're going to spend money. We're going to spend a lot of money. But we're not going to spend it on programs that cannot show that they actually deliver the promises that we've made to people.

FESSLER: But anti-poverty advocates insist there is evidence that not helping⁹ the poor hurts in the long run. Olivia Golden runs CLASP, the Center for Law and Social Policy. She notes that the administration wants to shift money from low-income Americans to spend more on defense¹⁰, security and law enforcement.

OLIVIA GOLDEN: I think you'll hear a lot of mayors pointing out that on the justice side the way to achieve safety is not to take away training, summer employment, youth resources and put it all on the backend. So I think it's a very counterproductive budget.

FESSLER: And that's the argument anti-poverty groups will take to Capitol Hill, where many Republicans agree with Trump that domestic spending should be trimmed. How much is what lawmakers will start debating soon. Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF PORTICO QUARTET'S "RUINS")

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 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

4 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

5 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。

6 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

7 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

8 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。