VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-09-18 Congress, Divided over Health Care Law, Faces a Budget Time Limit

 

AS IT IS 2013-09-18 Congress, Divided over Health Care Law, Faces a Budget Time Limit 

From VOA Learning English, welcome to As It Is! I’m Mario Ritter. Today, we hear about the budget debate in Washington.

"The first order of business must be to pass a sensible budget…”

President Obama is urging Congress not to delay action on legislation to finance government operations. But some lawmakers oppose America’s new health care law enough to do just that.

This week also marks five years since the worst financial crisis in a generation. Later we lighten up. Young business owners are making a profit with stores on wheels. We will hear about the upside of going mobile.

The Budget Debate Marches Toward Another Time Limit

In Washington, financial and economic issues are gaining urgency as October 1st nears. That is when the federal government begins its new fiscal¹, or financial, year. On Monday, President Obama called for a budget agreement between Democratic and Republican Party lawmakers. Yet budget cuts and political disputes over the new health care law threaten delays. 

Currently, the government is operating under automatically enacted² budget cuts, known as sequestration. In addition, the government may not have enough to pay for all government operations in the new fiscal year unless Congress approves more money.

Lawmakers extended earlier time limits for reaching a budget agreement in the past. However, on Monday, the president linked passage of a budget to economic growth and job creation.

“If Congress is serious about wanting to grow the economy faster and creating jobs faster, the first order of business must be to pass a sensible budget that replaces the sequester³ with a balanced plan that is both fiscally⁴ sound and funds the investments like education and basic research and infrastructure⁵ that we need to grow.”

One of the main disputes involves the Affordable⁶ Care Act of 2010. Many Republicans are seeking to cancel the law, which some Americans have called Obamacare. The legislation is meant to reduce health care costs. The president and Democrats⁷ support the law. Republicans, however, say it hurts job creation and the economy. House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, says efforts to cancel the law are continuing.

“We are again taking steps to dismantle⁸ the president health care law, which is driving up the costs of health care, and making it harder for businesses to hire new workers.”

Some Democrats says the business of Congress is being blocked because of the narrow political causes of a few conservative lawmakers. They say the health care law was a major issue during the 2012 presidential elections, and that President Obama was the winner.

The October 1st deadline has brought attention to the budget battle in Congress. But this week also offers a chance to look back at hard economic times. Monday was the fifth anniversary of the collapse⁹ of a huge investment bank, Lehman Brothers. Many people consider the bankruptcy¹⁰ of Lehman Brothers the beginning of the world financial crisis.

Late Sunday, the Obama administration released a report on the crisis. It presented the administration’s steps to answer the collapse of financial markets and institutions. At one time, job losses reached a monthly average of 800,000. And, at the worst point of the crisis, the economy was shrinking at a yearly rate of over eight percent. 

Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 during President Obama’s first 30 days in office. That law offered almost $800 billion dollars in loans and aid to businesses and individuals.

The government also moved to offer emergency loans to major banks and two of the three major American carmakers: General Motors and Chrysler.

Yet, the effects of the financial crisis remain. The administration’s report notes that the value of Americans’ property and investments fell by $19 trillion during the recession after the crisis. It says 91 percent of that has been regained¹¹.

The United States central bank has kept the interest rates it controls low and bought bonds in an effort to support the economy since 2008. Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve suggested that the economy may be strong enough to permit a reduction in its support activities.

Stores on Wheels

The cost of opening a store in New York and other American cities is too high for many people who would like to start a business. But, across the country, a new way of launching a business is taking shape -- on four wheels. Jim Tedder¹² has our story.

Jessie Goldenberg borrowed money to create a fashionable store in the back of an old delivery truck. She says being able to drive her store from place to place helps to keep business costs down. Most of all, she avoids having to make costly¹³ rental¹⁴ payments. 

Goldenberg: “It’s all, it’s skyrocketing. It was unaffordable for me as a young business owner to start a boutique that was in a brick and mortar¹⁵ store in the city and pay the rents.”

Her business, ‘Nomad Boutique’, sells clothing and jewelry¹⁶, mostly from local designers who make one-of-a-kind products. This year, Jessie Goldenberg earned a profit. She explains the increase in business to having created a new experience for shoppers.

“Oh, that looks great on you!”

“I think the intimacy¹⁷ is different, you know, the experience, you know, we’re here, it’s their lunch break. We’re right outside their door they can come in”.

She is part of a growing number of young business owners who bring their products to buyers. Sometimes the shopper has more than two legs. With Love Ivan is traveling shop for dogs. It is named after Dina Del Russo’s pet dog, Ivan. Her store is filled with treats for dogs. It travels between New York and New Jersey¹⁸ every day.  

She says her business got started because of a stomach problem.

“My dog had some sensitivities to chicken. So I started making my own treats for him. My neighbor, who is a dog walker, asked me if I could make some pupcakes for a dog she walked and have a birthday party for him. So I did. And then from there I just started making different treats for different people and, I thought why not get a truck and be like the ice cream man for dogs”.  

Dina Del Russo says her best-selling treat is called Pupcakes.

“I made them with human grade organic ingredients.”

She keeps costs down by having only a small number of products.

“I thought why not be mobile. I can be anywhere. If it doesn’t work in one spot, I can easily move to another.  That’s kind of how it started”.

Ivan is her taste tester.

“So this is carrot and oat, and this has a beef liver treat on top. This is peanut butter and bacon cookie”.

Ms. Del Russo adds that, in the near future, there will be more With Love, Ivan trucks on the road.

Jessie Goldenberg is also thinking big: more trucks, perhaps a traditional store and a brand name for her line of clothing. I’m Jim Tedder.

And that’s our show for today. Join us tomorrow for another As It Is from VOA Learning English.

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 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 sequester   

vt.使退隐，使隔绝

参考例句：

• Everything he owned was sequestered.他的所有财产都被扣押了。
• This jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months.预计这个陪审团将至少被隔离两个月。

4 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。

5 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。

6 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

7 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》

8 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

10 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

11 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

12 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

13 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。

14 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

15 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

16 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

17 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

18 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。