VOA常速英语2007-Congress Vows to Override Bush Veto on Child Hea

By Scott Stearns
White House
06 October 2007

Congressional Democrats¹ are vowing² to override³ President Bush's veto of legislation that would expand health insurance coverage⁴ for poor children. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story.

President Bush says he supports the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, but vetoed its expansion on Wednesday because he believes the bipartisan legislation is deeply flawed.

"Millions of children would move out of private health insurance and onto a government program," he said.  "Congress's plan would also transform a program for poor children into one that covers children in some households with incomes up to $83,000.  Congress's plan would raise taxes on working people.  And Congress's plan does not even fully⁵ fund all the new spending."

In his weekly radio address, the president says the legislation would take the country in the wrong direction, because more government-run health care deprives Americans of the choices and competition in the private market.

The president says he is willing to compromise with Congress if covering all eligible⁶ children not currently enrolled⁷ in the program requires more than the 20 percent increase he is proposing.

But congressional Democrats have so far shown no interest in negotiating with the White House on children's health insurance and hope to override the president's veto by convincing at least 15 House Republicans to change their vote.

In the Democratic radio address Saturday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says the president wrongly claims that the bill is fiscally⁸ irresponsible.  He says the legislation that the President vetoed would be funded by new cigarette taxes.

"The truth is this legislation is fully paid for," he said.  "It does not add one nickel to the deficit⁹ or to the debt. Furthermore, under the president's proposal more than 800,000 children who now receive coverage under CHIP would lose that coverage."

The Children's Health Insurance Program currently covers about 6 million low-income children whose families are not eligible for the government-run Medicaid program but cannot afford private health insurance.

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 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

3 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

4 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。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

7 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 fiscally   

在国库方面，财政上，在国库岁入方面

参考例句：

• Nor will fiscally stretched governments pump more money into the political equivalent of a leper colony. 财政吃紧的政府也不愿将更多的钱投入这个避之唯恐不及的政治瘟疫区。
• We are more fiscally constrained, which forces us to work smarter and more efficiently. 与F-15相比我们资金上的限制更大了，美女类小游戏，这迫使我们更为精心和有效地工作。

9 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。