VOA标准英语2009年-Republicans, Democrats Debate Obama Budget Prop

U.S. lawmakers are reacting to President Barack Obama's proposed budget for the 2010 fiscal¹ year that begins in October. Democrats² and Republicans commented on the $3.5 trillion budget that would raise the federal deficit³ to $1.75 trillion.
　
US Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (left) and House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt hold copies of budget

As lawmakers assess the budget, the rhetoric⁴ about spending and saving projections⁵ and priorities heated up.

Democrats face a heavy lift in implementing⁶ the agenda proposed in the president's 140-page outline, which is a precursor⁷ of the full budget the president will send Congress in April.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the budget outline shows President Obama is keeping to his pledges of fiscal responsibility.

"The budget is consistent with the president's message of accountability, fiscal responsibility, transparency from the standpoint of how we approach of it. It reflects the values that he conveyed about investing in education and energy and health care, also in how we grow our economy [with] infrastructure⁸ and how we support our troops," she said.

A key part of the budget involves health care, with $634 billion proposed over 10 years drawn⁹ from tax increases on the wealthy and medical system savings¹⁰ to expand coverage¹¹ for Americans.

Republicans say President Obama's plan to raise taxes for families earning more than $250,000 a year would harm small businesses, eliminate jobs, deepen the recession and the national debt.

"It's a spend, tax and borrow our way to prosperity budget. It proposes bigger government with higher spending, higher taxes, and higher debt as a means to produce prosperity in America," said Republican Congressman¹² Paul Ryan.

House Minority Leader John Boehner said "there has been too much spending under Republicans over the last several years. But if you begin to look at what has happened over the last month and what is being proposed in this budget, the president is beginning to make [former] President Bush look like a piker when it comes to spending."

Senator Judd Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said there are some good technical aspects to the budget, but he assailed¹³ proposed tax increases and spending.

"There are massive tax increases in this bill, in this proposal, $1.4 trillion by our calculation. That's a big number. [There is] massive spending in this bill just in the health care area [and] approximately $1.4 trillion of new spending," he said.

But President Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag, says Republicans are just wrong in their assertions about the president's tax proposals.

"The assertion that we are raising taxes in the midst of a recession is just factually wrong. And, in fact, we just cut taxes as part of the [American] Recovery [and Reinvestment] Act which his exactly what is appropriate from a macroeconomic perspective to boost aggregate¹⁴ demand during a downturn," he said.

House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt says compared to the eight years of the Bush administration, President Obama is directly confronting economic problems.

"President Obama, to his credit, has responded with a budget which shows he is not flinching¹⁵ or stalling, but is meeting the challenge head on," he said.

As they look at legislative¹⁶ action this year to reform health care, Democrats are also assessing how to move forward with long-postponed steps to reform costly¹⁷ government entitlement programs such as social security, as well as the tax system itself.

"To pursue not only reform of the entitlements but reform of the revenue system. There is just too much leakage¹⁸ in the system, and beyond that it does not position us well to compete in a globalized world economy," said Democratic Senator Kent Conrad, who heads the Senate Budget Committee.

Congress is not bound to a president's budget proposals, and this is the first step in a process leading to approval of a budget resolution that sets broad spending, tax and economic goals.

Congressional committees begin hearings on President Obama's budget next week. Between now and October 1 when the 2010 fiscal year begins, lawmakers will also work on the regular appropriations¹⁹ bills to fund government operations.

1 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

2 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》

3 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。

4 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

5 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

6 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

7 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

10 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

11 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。

12 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

13 assailed   

v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对

参考例句：

• He was assailed with fierce blows to the head. 他的头遭到猛烈殴打。
• He has been assailed by bad breaks all these years. 这些年来他接二连三地倒霉。 来自《用法词典》

14 aggregate   

adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合

参考例句：

• The football team had a low goal aggregate last season.这支足球队上个赛季的进球总数很少。
• The money collected will aggregate a thousand dollars.进帐总额将达一千美元。

15 flinching   

v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He listened to the jeers of the crowd without flinching. 他毫不畏惧地听着群众的嘲笑。 来自辞典例句
• Without flinching he dashed into the burning house to save the children. 他毫不畏缩地冲进在燃烧的房屋中去救小孩。 来自辞典例句

16 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

17 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

18 leakage   

n.漏，泄漏；泄漏物；漏出量

参考例句：

• Large areas of land have been contaminated by the leakage from the nuclear reactor.大片地区都被核反应堆的泄漏物污染了。
• The continuing leakage is the result of the long crack in the pipe.这根管子上的那一条裂缝致使渗漏不断。

19 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