美国国家公共电台 NPR Amid Cancer Treatment, McCain Releases Battle Cry For A Functional Congress

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Arizona Senator John McCain is undergoing treatment for a deadly form of brain cancer, but you'd never know it by watching him work. As the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, McCain is managing the Senate debate on the annual defense¹ bill. It sets the priorities for the Pentagon. McCain is also using the bill to make a point about how he believes the Senate should work. NPR's Susan Davis reports.

SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE²: The annual defense bill gives John McCain a chance to do two things he enjoys the most - boost the U.S. military and chastise³ his fellow senators.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN MCCAIN: For too long, partisanship⁴ and politics have triumphed over principle and policy. This legislation is an opportunity for us to reverse that trend and restore regular order in the United States Senate.

DAVIS: Regular order. McCain has made this his battle cry in recent months ever since he cast a decisive vote back in July that effectively derailed his party's effort to undo⁵ the Affordable⁶ Care Act. McCain said of that bill's many offenses⁷ that it ran afoul of regular order in the Senate. The vote also came just days after his brain cancer diagnosis⁸. Ever since, McCain has been hounding his colleagues to do better at legislating⁹, so now that it's his bill on the floor it's been a week of McCain pounding the podium - literally¹⁰ - with this message.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCCAIN: This is the way that the United States Senate should conduct business.

DAVIS: The way for McCain means moving bills through the committees and with buy-in from the Democratic minority. The result is a national defense bill that passed unanimously out of the Senate Armed Services Committee and incorporated 277 amendments¹² from committee members in both parties. Speaking to CNN earlier this week, McCain said that committee work summed up his regular-order philosophy this way.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCCAIN: And we fought, and we argued, and we're still mad at each other. But we came up with a bill that all of us could support.

DAVIS: McCain and his Democratic counterpart, Rhode Island Senator Jack¹³ Reed, are on track to together incorporate over 100 more amendments into the bill when it comes up for a floor vote. That kind of bipartisan collaboration¹⁴ leaves Democrats¹⁵ like Reed sounding like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JACK REED: I don't think any of this would have been done without the leadership of the chairman and his insistence¹⁶ that we adhere not only to regular order but that we don't forget this is ultimately about the men and women who serve us overseas.

DAVIS: It hasn't all been "Kumbaya" moments. One of McCain's longtime sparring partners on foreign policy, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, used delay tactics to try and force a vote on his amendment¹¹. He wanted to repeal¹⁷ the 2001 and 2003 war authorizations that have been used to justify¹⁸ military actions ever since. Here's Paul.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RAND PAUL: These wars are costing trillions of dollars. They're unauthorized. We have not voted on them. And I say, look; let's pay attention to some of the problems we've got here at home.

DAVIS: McCain, of course, opposed it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCCAIN: I cannot support anything that fails to provide our men and women in uniform with everything they need, including the legal authority to keep our nation safe.

DAVIS: To no surprise, the amendment failed. Even under regular order, chairmen still usually get their way. As for McCain's health, a Monday MRI concluded that additional radiation and chemotherapy is needed. McCain's office says the senator will undergo treatment at the nearby National Institutes of Health instead of back in Arizona. That way he can maintain a regular work schedule in the Senate. Susan Davis, NPR News, the Capitol.

1 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。

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 chastise   

vt.责骂，严惩

参考例句：

• My father used to chastise my brothers with whips.父亲过去常以鞭打惩罚我的兄弟。
• Should I applaud my husband or chastise him?我是该称赞还是责罚我的丈夫呢？

4 Partisanship   

n. 党派性, 党派偏见

参考例句：

• Her violent partisanship was fighting Soames's battle. 她的激烈偏袒等于替索米斯卖气力。
• There was a link of understanding between them, more important than affection or partisanship. ' 比起人间的感情，比起相同的政见，这一点都来得格外重要。 来自英汉文学

5 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

6 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。

7 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

8 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

9 legislating   

v.立法，制定法律( legislate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Why are the senators sitting there without legislating? 为什么那些议员们做在那里不立法？ 来自互联网
• From legislating and protecting peasant's interests organizationally. " 从立法和组织上保护农民利益。 来自互联网

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

12 amendments   

（法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案

参考例句：

• The committee does not adequately consult others when drafting amendments. 委员会在起草修正案时没有充分征求他人的意见。
• Please propose amendments and addenda to the first draft of the document. 请对这个文件的初稿提出修改和补充意见。

13 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

14 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

15 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》

16 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

17 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。

18 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？