VOA慢速英語:Deal Reopens Government, Extends Debt Limit

From VOA Learning English, this is In the News.

這里是美國之音慢速英語新聞報道。

Late Wednesday night, the United States Congress approved a deal to end a partial government shutdown. The deal also increases the nation's debt limit. President Obama signed the bill into law shortly after midnight. The shutdown lasted 16 days and affected hundreds of thousands of federal employees. It was the first shutdown in 17 years.

周三晚上，美國國會批準(zhǔn)了一項協(xié)議結(jié)束政府部分停擺。該協(xié)議還提高了美國的債務(wù)限額。奧巴馬總統(tǒng)在午夜后不久將之簽署為法律。這次停擺歷時16天，影響到數(shù)十萬聯(lián)邦雇員，它也是近17年以來美國政府首次停擺。

However, the deal to reopen the government will only pay for operations through January 15. And it only extends the debt limit until February 7. Extending the debt limit will let the government borrow enough money to pay for programs already approved by Congress.

然而，政府重新開門的協(xié)議只承擔(dān)明年1月15日前的政府運(yùn)營費用，并擴(kuò)大債務(wù)限額至明年2月7日。擴(kuò)大債務(wù)限額將使得政府能籌夠資金支付國會已經(jīng)批準(zhǔn)的項目。

The Treasury Department said the limit needed to rise by October 17 so that the United States could borrow enough money to pay all its bills.

美國財政部曾表示，該限額必須在10月17日提高，這樣美國才能籌足資金支付其所有賬單。

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced the results of the vote in the House of Representatives.

眾議員艾琳娜·羅斯-萊赫蒂寧(Ileana Ros-Lehtinen)揭曉了眾議院的投票結(jié)果。

"On this vote the yeas are 285, the nays are 144, the motion is adopted."

“這次投票獲得285張贊成票，144張反對票，議案被通過。”

The pressure had been on House Speaker John Boehner. Earlier in the day, Mr. Boehner talked about what Republicans had been seeking. He spoke to radio station WLW in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

此前壓力都集中于眾議院院長約翰·博納(John Boehner)一身。當(dāng)天早些時候，博納先生談到了共和黨人一直在尋求什么。他對自己家鄉(xiāng)俄亥俄州辛辛那提市的WLW電臺表示：

"We have been locked in a fight over here, trying to bring government down to size, trying to do our best to stop Obamacare. We fought the good fight, we just did not win."

“我們在此陷入惡戰(zhàn)，試圖削減政府規(guī)模，試圖盡最大努力阻止奧巴馬醫(yī)保法案。我們干得漂亮，只是沒有贏而已。”

The shutdown began October 1 after House Republicans linked passage of a spending bill to an effort to block the health care law.

這次政府停擺始于10月1日眾議院共和黨將通過開支法案與阻止醫(yī)療保健法聯(lián)系起來。

Republicans hold the majority in the 435-member House. But the bill passed mostly with the votes of Democrats. Fewer than 90 Republicans voted for the bill. And none of their leaders came to the House floor to speak in the final debate. Democrats supported the bill after Speaker Boehner agreed to allow a vote without changing Obamacare.

共和黨在435席的眾議院占多數(shù)。但該法案的通過主要是憑借民主黨的投票。只有不到90名共和黨人對該法案投贊成票，共和黨領(lǐng)袖也沒人到眾議院現(xiàn)場的最后辯論中發(fā)言。在議長博納同意不改變奧巴馬醫(yī)保法案的前提下，民主黨投票支持了該法案。

Earlier the Senate passed the same bill by a vote of 81 to 18, with strong support from Democrats and Republicans.

此前參議院在民主黨和共和黨的大力支持下，以81票對18票通過了類似法案。

Hours after signing the bill into law, President Obama noted "there are no winners here."

奧巴馬在將之簽署為法律數(shù)小時后指出，“這里沒人是贏家。”

"The last few weeks have inflicted completely, unnecessary damage on our economy. We don't know yet the full scope of the damage, but every analyst out there believes it slowed our growth. We know that families have gone without paychecks or services they depend on. We know that potential home buyers have gotten fewer mortgages and small business loans have been put on hold. We know that consumers have cut back on spending and that half of all CEOs say that the shutdown and the threat of shutdown set back their plans to hire over the next six months."

奧巴馬說，“最近幾個星期，我國經(jīng)濟(jì)遭受了完全沒有必要的損失。我們還不清楚損失整體達(dá)到了什么程度，但每一位分析人士都認(rèn)為我們的增長被延緩。我們知道，家家戶戶得不到他們所依靠的薪資支票或服務(wù)。我們知道，準(zhǔn)備買房的人得到的抵押貸款縮減，企業(yè)貸款被扣發(fā)。我們知道，消費者削減了支出，半數(shù)公司首席執(zhí)行長表示，政府停擺及停擺的危險導(dǎo)致他們推遲今后6個月的雇人計劃。”

Congress agreed to pay government workers for the time away from their jobs. But economists say some businesses affected by the shutdown will not be able to recover their losses. For example, the shutdown closed national parks. That cost nearby businesses when people canceled park visits.

美國國會同意支付政府雇員停工期間的薪水。但經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家表示，一些受政府停擺影響的企業(yè)將無法彌補(bǔ)其損失。例如，政府停擺導(dǎo)致國家公園關(guān)閉，人們?nèi)∠珗@參觀讓附近商家蒙受損失。

As part of the deal, House and Senate leaders have appointed a joint budget committee to negotiate a compromise spending plan. The goal is to reach an agreement by December 13.

作為協(xié)議的一部分，參、眾兩院領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人已經(jīng)任命了一個聯(lián)合預(yù)算委員會，就一項妥協(xié)的支出方案進(jìn)行磋商。其目標(biāo)是在12月13日前達(dá)成協(xié)議。

President Obama says, "We've got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis." He says with the shutdown over, attention should now turn to long-term budget concerns and issues like passing an immigration reform bill.

奧巴馬總統(tǒng)說，“我們必須擺脫危機(jī)執(zhí)政的習(xí)慣。”他表示，隨著政府停擺結(jié)束，美國應(yīng)該將注意力轉(zhuǎn)向長期預(yù)算問題，以及通過移民改革法案等問題。