PBS高端访谈:财政预算谈判陷入僵局

Judy Woodruff: Negotiations¹ on more COVID financial relief have stalled in Washington tonight amid signs that the economic recovery has stalled as the virus surges again. According to the Labor² Department, employers added a net of 1.8 million jobs in July. That's far fewer than the previous two months. The unemployment rate did fall nearly a full percent to 10.2 percent, but that's still higher than during the Great Recession. Against that backdrop, White House negotiators and Democratic congressional leaders failed again to agree on a relief package, possibly including federal jobless benefits that expired a week ago. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Treasury⁴ Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. They spoke⁵ afterward⁶ at the Capitol.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：今晚在华盛顿举行的关于更多疫情财政救济的谈判陷入僵局，有迹象表明，随着病毒再次肆虐，经济复苏已经停滞。根据劳工部的数据，7月份雇主净增加了180万个工作岗位，这远远少于前两个月。失业率确实下降了近百分之十点二，但这仍然高于大萧条时期。在此背景下，白宫谈判代表和民主党国会领袖再次未能就救助方案达成一致，可能包括一周前到期的联邦失业救济金。参议院少数党领袖舒默和众议院议长佩洛西会见了财政部长史蒂文·姆努钦和白宫办公厅主任马克·梅多斯。他们后来在国会大厦发表了讲话。

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.: We're asking them, again, to be fair, to meet us in the middle, not to have a "my way or the highway" attitude, which they seem to have.

纽约州民主党参议员查克·舒默：我们再次要求他们要公平，要在期间和我们碰面。不要像他们一样，有顺我者昌，逆我者亡的态势。

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif.: Anyway, but I have told them, come back when you're ready to give us a higher number.

加州众议员南希·佩洛西：不管怎样，但我已经告诉他们，等你准备好给我们一个更高的数字时再来。

Steven Mnuchin: We will continue to try to get an agreement that's in the best interest of the people. And that's why we're here.

史蒂文·姆努钦：我们将继续努力达成一项符合人民最大利益的协议。这就是我们来这里的原因。

Mark Meadows: But, in the meantime, we're going to take executive orders to try to alleviate⁷ some of the pain that people are spending — are experiencing. This is not a perfect answer. We will be the first ones to say that, but it is all that we can do.

马克·梅多斯：但是，与此同时，我们将采取行政命令，试图减轻人们正在花费，正在经历的痛苦。这不是一个完美的答案。我们将是第一个这样说的人，但这是我们所能做的。

Judy Woodruff: And here with the latest on these negotiations are our own Lisa Desjardins and Yamiche Alcindor. So, hello to both of you. And, Lisa, to you first. What is known about what they actually were able to negotiate or discuss behind closed doors? And what do we know about what the main sticking points are?

朱迪·伍德拉夫：关于谈判的最新消息，请听本台记者丽莎·德斯贾丁斯和亚米奇·阿尔辛多尔。所以，大家好。丽莎，先听一下你的报道，关于他们要谈论什么，或者说闭门谈判的内容是什么？关于主要症结，我们了解多少？

Lisa Desjardins: Right. A little bit more on what you just reported, Judy. Democrats⁸ offered to take down their offer about $1 trillion to the $2 trillion area, let's say. But Republicans said that, really, what Democrats were doing was changing the timeline of spending. Some spending that Democrats wanted to have for two years, they would say limit — or — I'm sorry — they wanted three years, and Democrats were moving it to two years. Essentially⁹, Judy, Republicans said they don't think it's real money. They didn't see a real change in sort of the top — the items that Democrats were asking for. Nonetheless, Democrats said they have made what they believe is a good-faith offer. They are now waiting for Republicans to make the next move.

丽莎·德斯贾丁斯：没错。朱迪，关于你刚刚报道的事情再多说一点。比如说，民主党提出2万亿美元预算降低1万亿。但共和党人说，实际上，民主党人所做的是改变开支的时间表。一些民主党人想要两年的开支，他们会说限制...抱歉，他们希望是三年，而民主党人则将其延长至两年。实际上，朱迪，共和党人说他们不认为这是真的钱。他们并没有看到民主党要求的高层有什么实质性的变化。尽管如此，民主党人说他们已经做出了他们认为是善意的提议。他们现在正等待共和党采取下一步行动。

Judy Woodruff: And, Yamiche, we heard the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, say that the president is prepared to take action unilaterally on his own. What is known about how the White House sees the way forward now?

朱迪·伍德拉夫：亚米奇，我们听说白宫幕僚马克·梅多奇表示称，总统准备单方面采取行动。关于白宫如何看待未来发展，我们现在知道哪些情况？

Yamiche Alcindor: Well, the White House is taking the stance that Democrats are not taking these negotiations seriously. That, of course, is something that Democrats disagree with. I want to read to you a tweet that the president sent just in the last hour. He wrote: "Pelosi and Schumer are only interested in bailout money for poorly run Democrat³ cities and states, nothing to do with the virus. Want $1 trillion, no interest. We are going a different way." That different way, Judy is the executive action that you just alluded¹⁰ to. The president, I'm told from — from White House officials, is looking at several different options, including a payroll¹¹ tax initiative, something to do with student loans, some sort of movement on unemployment benefits, as well as some sort of movement on eviction¹² protections. This was — today was a self-imposed deadline for the White House to move forward on its own, and look only to doing executive actions. I should note that the White House is saying that they feel like they're going to be on firm legal ground when it comes to this executive order. But Democrats disagree and say a lot of the things that the president wants to do, he simply cannot do only by executive order.

亚米切·阿尔辛多尔：嗯嗯，白宫采取的立场是民主党人没有认真对待这些谈判。当然，这是民主党人不同意的。我想给你读一条总统在最后一小时发的推文。他写道：佩洛西和舒默只关心为经营不善的民主党城市和州提供救助资金，与病毒无关。想要1万亿美元，没有利息。我们要走另一条路。另一条路，朱迪，是你刚才提到的行政行为。白宫官员告诉我，总统正在考虑几种不同的选择，包括工资税计划，一些与学生贷款有关的事情，一些关于失业救济的运动，以及一些关于驱逐保护的运动。这是…今天是白宫自行设定的最后期限，白宫只能采取行政行动。我要指出的是，白宫称他们感觉该行政命令是有法律依据的。但是民主党人不同意，说了很多总统想做的事情，他根本不能只靠行政命令来做。

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

7 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。

8 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》

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 alluded   

提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In your remarks you alluded to a certain sinister design. 在你的谈话中，你提到了某个阴谋。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles. 她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

11 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

12 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。