2006年VOA标准英语-Senate Backs Bush Immigration Reform Plan

By Deborah Tate
Capitol Hill
16 May 2006

Patrons at El Portal restaurant watch President Bush deliver his immigration speech Monday  
  
The U.S. Senate is supporting President Bush's call for a comprehensive approach to immigration reform that includes boosting border security while simultaneously¹ addressing the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.  In a key vote Tuesday, lawmakers rejected a plan that would have focused exclusively on securing the U.S. borders before consideration of other immigration reforms.

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The immigration measure that was rejected Tuesday was sponsored by Republican Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia.  He had argued the United States should have better control of its borders before considering a guest worker program and citizenship² for the millions of illegal immigrants already in the country.

"The premise³ is you do not want to create an attraction for more [illegal immigrants] to come until the border is secure," he said.

But most senators saw it differently, voting 55 to 40 against the amendment⁴, arguing it would undermine President Bush's call for comprehensive immigration reform.

The Senate then voted (79 to 16) for a Democrat⁵-sponsored alternative that calls for moving forward with a guest worker program that would give undocumented workers the possibility of gaining U.S. citizenship.

The amendment's sponsor, Senator Ken⁶ Salazar of Colorado, says the United States can no longer avoid dealing⁷ with illegal immigrants who are already in the country.

"I do not believe we should allow this crisis to fester," he said.  "I do not believe we should continue to tolerate the shadow society for 11 million undocumented workers in this country today."

The vote is seen as a victory for President Bush, who outlined his immigration reform proposals in a nationally televised address Monday night.

Besides endorsing⁸ a temporary guest worker plan that would offer illegal immigrants a path to U.S. citizenship, President Bush also proposed deploying⁹ up to 6,000 National Guard troops along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Many lawmakers have welcomed the call to boost border security, but are concerned the initiative would further burden the National Guard, which is already stretched thin by deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee says he hopes the Senate will vote on a completed immigration reform bill, with provisions for a guest worker program and opportunity for a path to U.S. citizenship for illegal immigrants, by the end of next week.

The House has already passed its own version of immigration reform.  The House measure does not include a guest worker program, but does call for a fence to be built along much of the U.S. border with Mexico and would impose more harsh penalties for illegal immigrants, making it a felony to be in the country illegally.  

The top Democrat in the Senate, Senator Harry¹⁰ Reid of Nevada, renewed his call on President Bush to denounce the House measure if he wants comprehensive immigration reform to succeed.

"He has to talk about this House bill in a negative fashion," said Mr. Reid.  "I call it a monstrous¹¹ bill and I believe it is a monstrous bill, and the President has yet to say a bad word about this bill."

Congressional negotiators will have to figure out a way to reconcile differences in the separate bills before a final measure can be sent to the President for his signature.

1 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

2 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

3 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

4 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

5 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。

6 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

7 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

8 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

9 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

10 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

11 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！