美国国家公共电台 NPR Help Wanted: The Trump Administration (Still) Has Some Openings To Fill

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

To push his agenda forward, President Trump¹ will need one thing he doesn't have enough of yet, staff in key positions. President Trump has fewer appointees in place than any of his recent predecessors². Only a fraction of the hundreds of key jobs the Trump administration needs to fill have been nominated and confirmed by the Senate. NPR's Brian Naylor takes a look at why.

BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE³: The Partnership⁴ for Public Service, a nonpartisan good government group, lists 556 key positions, including Cabinet secretaries, undersecretaries and ambassadors. And of those positions, just 25 have been confirmed by the Senate. Terry Sullivan directs the nonprofit White House Transition Project and says there are a number of factors.

TERRY SULLIVAN: This is a really, really slow performance. And you can't get this poor performance without a lot of things going wrong.

NAYLOR: One of the biggest problems was the Trump transition's very slow start. You might remember that New Jersey⁵ Governor Chris Christie was put in charge of the transition when Trump won the GOP nomination⁶. But just three days after the election, he was ousted⁷ from the job. Clay Johnson, who helped President George W. Bush staff up his administration, says that put the Trump team in an immediate⁸ hole.

CLAY JOHNSON III: Everything they had done had been - was just thrown out. So they started from scratch the first day of the transition, and that's just a very steep hill to climb.

NAYLOR: The Trump administration blames Democrats⁹ in Congress for blocking or holding up the president's nominations¹⁰. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, on NBC's "Meet the Press" last week, pointed¹¹ the finger at the Senate minority leader.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")

REINCE PRIEBUS: Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have done something that even many Democrats and even Democrat-leaning pundits¹² have said was - is inexcusable, which is to hold up one nominee¹³ after the next to fill secretary positions.

NAYLOR: But that argument doesn't hold up. Going back to the Partnership for Public Service's numbers, the administration hasn't even submitted nominations for more than 400 of those 556 key positions.

Trump political adviser¹⁴ Stephen Bannon has talked of doing away with this so-called administrative¹⁵ state. But Terry Sullivan at the White House Transition Project says there's no evidence that Trump is filling jobs at agencies he cares about, such as defense¹⁶ or Homeland Security, and not at agencies he doesn't, like EPA.

SULLIVAN: You don't see that. You see just this vast, common low performance across all agencies regardless of their agenda.

NAYLOR: Sullivan believes part of the reason is many of Trump's nominees¹⁷ come from the business world with complex financial ties that make vetting¹⁸ more difficult. Squabbling among the well-known factions¹⁹ within the White House is another likely cause of delays. Chase Untermeyer was personnel director in the George H.W. Bush administration. He says it's difficult for any new White House to fill its ranks. He advises the Trump administration to take its time.

CHASE UNTERMEYER: My suggestion is not to feel pressured. Yes, there will be people watching the number of nominations sent to the Hill and the number of empty desks in the various departments and agencies. But it definitely pays off to do the job carefully rather than fast.

NAYLOR: Still, the longer it takes for the president to put his team in place, the longer it will take to put in place his policies.

Brian Naylor, NPR News, Washington.

1 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。

2 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

5 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

6 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

7 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 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》

10 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

11 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

12 pundits   

n.某一学科的权威，专家( pundit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pundits disagree on the best way of dealing with the problem. 如何妥善处理这一问题，专家众说纷纭。 来自辞典例句
• That did not stop Chinese pundits from making a fuss over it. 这并没有阻止中国的博学之士对此大惊小怪。 来自互联网

13 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

14 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

15 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

16 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

17 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

18 vetting   

n.数据检查[核对，核实]v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的现在分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• Scripts had to be submitted to Ministry of Information officials for vetting. 必须把脚本提交给信息部官员审查。 来自互联网
• Their purpose in clicking deeper into a site is one of vetting. 他们深入点击网站的目的是一种诊疗。 来自互联网

19 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别