万花筒 2011-02-16&02-18 奥巴马2012财年预算赤字严重

 President Obama unveiled his budget proposal for the coming year. And at a time when a lot of Americans are struggling economically and many are worried about this nation's massive national debt, this budget hasn't seemed to satisfy anybody. There are cuts in it that surprise even Obama loyalists. And yet as a whole, it's not near enough for most Republicans. Our White House correspondent, Savannah Guthrie, inside the briefing room in the west wing. Savannah, good evening. 

 

Good evening to you, Brian. There is a phrase that the president's budget is like to use. We are taking a scalpel to this budget, not in ax. Loosely translated it means the president is proposing cuts, but also spending in key areas. He says he will keep this country competitive. 

 

Arriving this morning on Capital Hill, the President's 2012 budget, a bright blue book full of red ink. In Baltimore today, they push for more spending on education. The president said his budget also makes tough cuts. 

 

So what we've done here is make a down payment. But there's gonna be more work that needs to be done and it's gonna require Democrats¹ and Republicans coming together to make it happen. 

 

The $3.7 trillion budget has deficits³ covering well above $1 trillion through 2012, but lays out a path to cut the deficit² by $1.1 trillion over the next decade. Some 200 federal programs will be eliminated or see funding slashed⁴, including low income heating assistance, community development block grants and federal funding to big airports. The biggest cuts $78 billion out of the Pentagon over 5 years. 

 

I've worked on 7 budgets that presidents have sent to Congress. This has the toughest cuts that I have ever worked on. They are very significant. 

 

Some progressives are dismayed to see favorite programs like Teach for America facing dramatic cuts. 

 

Unless we are in the president's budget, we will be zeroed out. So we are barely toward being zeroed out. 

 

The president is also proposing raising taxes to attack the deficit. Lowering how much wealthy tax payers can write off an itemized deductions⁵, like home mortgage interest, and permanently⁶ rolling back the lower Bush Tax rates for top earners. 

 

Today Republicans admitted they don't yet have their own budget ready to offer, ripped the president for his.

 

And so when you see, our leader, the president of the United States, seeing this, knowing it, acknowledging it, and ducking it. That is why we are so disappointed today. 

 

Yet neither republicans nor the president have offered a plan to deal with the biggest part of the budget, mandatory⁷ spending for social security, medicaid and medicare. 

 

In Washington, we've got kind of political stalemate with two parties not being willing to compromise and not being willing to really talk honestly about the kinds of changes there are in our future. 

 

Well, this is far from over. The president's budget, Brian, really an opening bid. The Republicans offer theirs in April. 

 

Savannah Guthrie, the White House for us tonight. Savannah, thanks.

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 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

3 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

4 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

6 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

7 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。