VOA标准英语2011--US Budget Woes Put Teachers, Emergency Responders on Chopping Block

US Budget Woes¹ Put Teachers, Emergency Responders on Chopping Block

 

A proposal to send federal assistance to cash-strapped local governments across America has been defeated in the U.S. Senate, 50 to 50, short of the 60 votes needed for passage. The measure would have provided $35 billion to keep teachers, police officers, and fire fighters on payrolls³ as cities and counties grapple with continued budget shortfalls. The spending would have been offset⁴ by a slight boost in taxes paid by millionaires.

They teach American kids, fight crime on America’s streets, and respond to tragedy and disaster. Their numbers are decreasing nationwide, as counties and cities grapple with lower tax revenues.

A large contingent⁵ of teachers, police officers, and firefighters came to the Capitol this week with a message for lawmakers debating aid to local communities.

Among them: laid-off Florida high-school teacher Cherine Akbari, who risks losing her home, but is more worried about her pupils. “Students absolutely are the ones who suffer. It is not just me, it is not just about my job.”

Connecticut police officer Jennifer Pierce says cuts in law enforcement will leave communities unprotected. “If we do not get the officers we need, obviously there will be less patrol presence on the street, crime rates are going to go up, as we have already seen. Burglaries are up, street robberies are up,” Pierce said.

Vice6 President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference urging the passage of the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, Oct. 19, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The rally had a surprise speaker. Vice President Joseph Biden said budget cuts - even temporary ones - bring lasting⁷ consequences. “There is nothing temporary about kindergarten being eliminated, because it has an effect on a child for the rest of their life. There is nothing temporary about the life saved in a home invasion or a robbery because a squad⁸ car is able to get there in five minutes and not in 30. There is nothing temporary about that for real, live people,” Biden said.

President Barack Obama’s $476 billion jobs plan was defeated on Capitol Hill last week. Undeterred, Democratic lawmakers are forcing votes on the plan’s individual components⁹, starting with federal assistance to cash-strapped communities.

But Republicans oppose using federal funds to prop² up local governments.

“Bailouts do not solve the problem. In fact, they perpetuate¹⁰ it,” saidSenate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell argues President Obama’s $800 billion stimulus¹¹ plan failed to improve America’s jobs picture in 2009, and spending even more now makes no sense.

“Again and again, the president has demanded that Congress do something that creates jobs. And the only thing we seem to end up with at the end of the day is more debt, more government, and fewer jobs,” McConnell said.

Republicans are united in opposing tax hikes on the wealthy to fund federal jobs programs. “Job-killing tax increases are the wrong medicine for our struggling economy,” said Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona.

Instead, Republicans urge deep spending cuts to improve the nation’s fiscal¹² health, and economic deregulation to unchain America’s entrepreneurs.

Unions representing teachers and emergency responders are appealing to the American public through advertisements.

One advertisment said “The economic crisis is crippling public safety. Hey, Congress, we may be just kids, but right now we need help, too. Our school days are being cut.”

And President Obama is keeping up the pressure, as well. “We need to put people to work right now. I think most Americans understand that,” he said.

A recent poll showed 76 percent of Americans favor federal efforts to save local government jobs.

1 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

2 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

3 payrolls   

n.（公司员工的）工资名单( payroll的名词复数 )；（公司的）工资总支出，工薪总额

参考例句：

• Indices of employment, payrolls, and production steadied in February 1931931年2月，就业、工资额和生产指数稳定。 来自辞典例句
• Wall Street responded to the payrolls figures with gusto. 华尔街对就业数据作出了积极的反应。 来自互联网

4 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

5 contingent   

adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队

参考例句：

• The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
• Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

8 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

9 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

10 perpetuate   

v.使永存，使永记不忘

参考例句：

• This monument was built to perpetuate the memory of the national hero.这个纪念碑建造的意义在于纪念民族英雄永垂不朽。
• We must perpetuate the system.我们必须将此制度永久保持。

11 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

12 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。