美国国家公共电台 NPR House Passes Funding Extension After Trump Says 'I'd Love To See A Shutdown'

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

We are once again days away from a potential government shutdown. Now on Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats¹ say they think they can strike a deal to avoid that scenario².

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MITCH MCCONNELL: I'm optimistic that very soon we'll be able to reach an agreement.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHUCK SCHUMER: We are closer to an agreement than we have ever been.

CHANG: That was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell followed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer earlier today. Now, President Trump³ quickly cast doubt on what was supposed to be good feelings today. He suggested he'd be fine with another government shutdown if Congress doesn't deliver what he wants on immigration.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If we don't change it, let's have a shutdown. We'll do a shutdown. And it's worth it for our country.

CHANG: All right, NPR congressional reporter Kelsey Snell is here with us to sort through all of this. Hey, Kelsey.

KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE⁴: Hi there.

CHANG: So what exactly is happening here? It sounds like Schumer and McConnell are talking about an entirely⁵ different conversation than what the president's talking about.

SNELL: Yeah, this is all about the Thursday shutdown deadline. I know we just finished a deadline...

CHANG: Yes.

SNELL: ...For a shutdown, but we back in that same place. They have until midnight on Thursday to keep the government open. But there's a lot of big happy talk coming out of the Senate right now. They're saying they're closer than they've ever been before on a big, long-term budget agreement that they say - that would keep them from having to fight about spending all the time. Senator Shelby, who's one of the top Republicans on the Appropriations⁶ Committee, came over to reporters and he held his fingers really close together, just a fraction of an inch apart, to show us how close they actually were (laughter).

CHANG: Nice, a visual. Well, that sounds like there's been a lot of progress since where we were left just a few weeks ago.

SNELL: Yeah. Right now it doesn't feel like anybody up here wants a shutdown. I've talked to senators and House members who say they really would like to get something done. And it would be a big deal if they could get an agreement on this, something that they're saying could last as long as two years. But in the meantime, the House has already voted to pass a stopgap spending bill. Now, that would keep the government open until March 23 and fund the military for a year. That was never likely to pass in the Senate, where Democrats oppose the idea of funding the military at a higher level than domestic programs. And on this deal that's happening in the Senate, it seems to be coming together. But like anything else in Congress, things could still fall apart.

CHANG: Right.

SNELL: Democrats have an issue with the idea, like I said, of funding the military at a higher rate than domestic spending. And conservatives are not so sure about a bigger deal, which they say would grow the federal government. And that's something they've tried to avoid.

CHANG: Now, how does the issue of immigration play into all of this? It was at the heart of the shutdown fight just a few weeks ago.

SNELL: Yeah. It became a lot less of an issue in terms of spending bills after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to vote immediately on an immigration bill after the current spending deadline. And while there are separate talks happening - there's something happening in the House and there's a group of bipartisan - the Common Sense Caucus⁷ over in the Senate, and there's a whole nother negotiation⁸ of the No. 2 leaders in the House and Senate, the - there is just a sense that, you know, they are making some progress here. (Laughter) And the White House says there's no extension on the March 5 deadline. So immigration is proceeding⁹ kind of on a separate track.

CHANG: But is it making real progress? Is a deal actually achievable in a month?

SNELL: It's hard to say. I mentioned those - all those separate negotiations¹⁰.

CHANG: Yeah.

SNELL: It's hard to say where they go from here. And they don't really have a base bill to get started on voting. But I'm told McConnell is actually very serious about voting as early as Friday on some sort of proposal that they could spend the next week or so amending¹¹. And that's something that would need to get 60 votes in the Senate, and that means votes from Democrats. And it's not totally clear that what can pass the Senate with Democrats' votes could actually pass in the House. And House Speaker Paul Ryan reminded reporters today that whatever comes up in the House needs to have the support of the president. And the president calling for a shutdown if he doesn't get what he wants kind of throws a sense of uncertainty¹²...

CHANG: Right.

SNELL: ...Into the negotiation.

CHANG: All right, that's NPR congressional reporter Kelsey Snell. Thanks, Kelsey.

SNELL: Thank you.

1 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》

2 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

3 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。

4 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。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 appropriations   

n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• More commonly, funding controls are imposed in the annual appropriations process. 更普遍的作法是，拨款控制被规定在年度拨款手续中。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Should the president veto the appropriations bill, it goes back to Congress. 假如总统否决了这项拨款提案，就把它退还给国会。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

8 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

9 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

10 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

11 amending   

改良，修改，修订( amend的现在分词 )； 改良，修改，修订( amend的第三人称单数 )( amends的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Amending acts in 1933,1934, and 1935 attempted to help honest debtors rehabilitate themselves. 一九三三年，一九三四年和一九三五年通过的修正案是为了帮助诚实的债务人恢复自己的地位。
• Two ways were used about the error-amending of contour curve. 采用两种方法对凸轮轮廓曲线进行了修正。

12 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。