美国各界支持两党达成预算协议

US congressional leaders and business groups raced to rally support yesterday for a bipartisan budget deal designed to provide stability to America’s fiscal policy for the next two years and spur recovery.

美国国会领导人和商界团体昨日纷纷表态支持一项两党预算协议，该协议旨在给美国未来两年的财政政策带来稳定，推动经济复苏。

The high-stakes agreement sealed on Tuesday night by Patty Murray and Paul Ryan, the Democratic and Republican budget negotiators, will be taken up by the House of Representatives as soon as today, to be followed by the Senate.

美国民主党和共和党预算谈判代表帕蒂•默里(Patty Murray)和保罗•瑞安(Paul Ryan)周二夜间达成了这一至关重要的协议，众议院将最早于今日开始对其进行讨论，之后将提交参议院投票表决。

Economists welcomed the deal, suggesting it raised the chances that the US Federal Reserve could begin its “tapering” of asset purchases as early as next week.

经济学家们对这项预算协议表示欢迎，他们表示，这加大了美联储(Fed)最早于下周开始缩减其资产购买的可能性。

Despite dissatisfaction on both sides with aspects of the agreement, there was growing confidence on Capitol Hill that it would be approved, even if narrowly. The biggest question mark surrounded the level of support within the Republican majority in the House, where conservative lawmakers have taken hard lines against compromise in recent years.

尽管美国两党都对协议的某些方面仍有不满，但国会议员们对于协议将获得通过（即便以微弱多数通过）的信心日益增强。最大的问题是，在众议院占多数的共和党内部有多少人支持该协议？近年保守派的国会议员一直立场强硬，不愿妥协。

Several influential conservative groups – including the Club for Growth and Heritage Action – rejected the agreement, saying it should not have increased short-term spending in exchange for deficit reduction over a decade. But they were sharply rebuked by John Boehner, the House speaker, yesterday morning.

几个颇具影响力的保守组织——包括Club for Growth和Heritage Action——反对该协议，它们表示，不应该用增加短期支出来换取未来10年的减赤。但众议院议长约翰•博纳(John Boehner)昨日上午对此进行了尖锐反驳。

“They’re using our members and they’re using the American people for their own goals. This is ridiculous,” Mr Boehner said. “Listen, if you’re for more deficit reduction, you’re for this agreement,” he added.

“他们正在利用我们的议员，他们正在利用美国人民为自己的目标服务。这太荒谬了，”博纳表示，“听着，如果你支持更多减赤，那么你就要支持这项协议。”

Because some Republicans will oppose the deal, Democratic votes will be needed. Before the agreement, many members of President Barack Obama’s party complained that it did not extend jobless benefits and was too harsh on federal workers, but some of those objections evaporated.

由于一些共和党人将投票反对该协议，民主党议员投票支持将十分必要。在达成该协议之前，美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)所在政党的很多成员曾抱怨称，协议没有延长失业救济期限，而且对于联邦雇员过于严厉，但一些反对的声音后来烟消云散。

Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House budget committee, called it a “small step in the right direction”.

众议院预算委员会民主党一号人物克里斯•范•霍伦(Chris Van Hollen)称，这是“迈向正确方向的一小步”。

The Business Roundtable, which lobbies for corporate America, urged both parties to support the legislation. Louis Chenevert, chief executive of United Technologies, and head of the BRT’s tax and fiscal policy committee, said the agreement would “clear the pathway to focusing on a longer-term growth agenda”.

代表美国企业游说的商业圆桌会议(Business Roundtable)敦促两党支持该法案。美国联合技术公司(United Technologies)首席执行官、商业圆桌会议税收和财政政策委员会主席路易•谢纳沃(Louis Chênevert)表示，该协议将“为关注较长期增长议程扫清道路”。

The deal equates to about 0.4 per cent of GDP. “While it is very small in scope . . .[it] would provide some much-needed stability to the fiscal outlook,” wrote Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics. He added that it “further increases the chances” that the Federal Reserve might next week start scaling back its asset purchases.

该协议的规模相当于美国国内生产总值(GDP)的0.4%左右。凯投宏观(Capital Economics)首席美国经济学家保罗•阿什沃思(Paul Ashworth)写道：“尽管涉及范围很小……但（它）将为财政前景带来一些亟需的稳定性。”他补充称，该协议“进一步提高了”美联储在下周开始缩减资产购买的可能性。

The deal raises spending over the next two years by $63bn, relieving some of the pressure imposed by sequestration, the automatic budget cuts that took effect in March.

该协议将未来两年的支出增加630亿美元，这缓解了今年3月生效的自动减支(sequestration)举措所带来的部分压力。

But it includes new savings and revenues worth $85bn over a decade, ranging from higher fees for airline security to bigger pension contributions from federal workers.

但这包括未来10年价值850亿美元的新的节省和财政收入，从提高机场安全收费，到加大联邦雇员的养老金自付比例。

In the long run, it would reduce the deficit by $23bn. Mr Ryan and Ms Murray argued that the deal was the best that could be achieved in a divided government.

长期而言，该协议将削减230亿美元的赤字。瑞安和默里辩称，该协议是一个意见分歧的政府能够取得的最好成果。

“We know that this budget agreement doesn’t come close to achieving what we want to achieve, our ultimate fiscal goals,” said Mr Ryan.

瑞安表示：“我们知道，这项预算协议远未实现我们希望实现的目标，我们的终极财政目标。”