美国会众院通过预算 参院成焦点

Efforts to cut the U.S. federal budget to counter a rising deficit projected at $1.6 trillion this year are now moving to the Democratic Party dominated Senate.

美国削减联邦政府预算的焦点已经转移到民主党人主导的国会参议院。美国今年的预算赤字预计将高达1万6千亿美元。

The Republican controlled House of Representatives passed a bill early Saturday with about $60 billion in spending cuts.

共和党人控制的众议院星期六凌晨通过了一项削减约600亿美元的议案。

During Saturday’s early morning debate House Speaker John Boehner said the next few months will be the most important Washington has seen in decades.

在众议院星期六凌晨的辩论中，议长约翰.博纳说，今后几个月将成为华盛顿几十年来所经历的最重要阶段。

In a vote which ended at four in the morning, lawmakers voted almost entirely along party lines. Most Republicans were in favor of the bill to cut current spending by about 14 percent, while Democrats were in opposition.

在早上四点结束的投票中，所有议员几乎都按党派立场投了票。多数共和党人赞成将目前的支出减少14%，而民主党人持反对态度。

The bill is a stop-gap measure known as a continuing resolution. It establishes spending levels for the rest of the fiscal year ending in September.

这一被称作临时开支法的决议案将确定今年九月底到期的本财政年度的政府开支水平。

But Democratic lawmakers in the Senate have promised to remove many of the bill’s cuts.

参议员民主党议员已经坚决表示要恢复该议案中很多被削减的开支。

These include eliminating spending to carry out President Barack Obama’s health care reform law. The cuts also target federal funding for family planning, the government’s ability to enforce environmental regulations, education programs, subsidies for the poor and foreign aid.

这些被削减的部分包括取消为执行奥巴马总统的健保改革法律所需的支出，削减联邦政府为计划生育计划的资助，削减政府执行环境条例法规的能力，减少对穷人的补贴和对外援助。

The bill does include increases, such as a nearly two percent rise for defense spending, despite some internal Republican opposition.

这项法案也包括增加支出，例如在国防上增加了2%的预算，尽管共和党内部出现了一些反对的声音。During the House debate, California Republican John Campbell was one of those urging deeper defense cuts. "There are many weapons systems funded in the Defense Department which the Defense Department does not want. They are there because of influential members of Congress who have put them in. Defense has always been the most earmarked section of the entire budget," he said.

在众议院辩论期间，来自加利福尼亚州的共和党人约翰.坎贝尔就是主张进一步削减军费的议员之一。他说：“国防部有很多得到资助的武器系统是国防部不愿意得到的。之所以通过是因为国会一些有影响力的议员硬塞进预算案中去的。国防一直是整个预算中最具标志性的部分。”

Democratic lawmakers, such as Georgia’s Sanford Bishop, warned against cuts that would affect war veterans. “If this bill is signed into law it will hurt our economic recovery which in turn will affect our veterans. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 15 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are unemployed, far higher than the national jobless rate. If we follow through with some of these disastrous cuts we will see that rate go higher," he said.

来自乔治亚的民主党议员桑福德.毕晓普说，不要减少影响退伍军人的预算。他说：“如果这个法案签署形成法律，那么将伤害我们的经济复苏，接着就会影响我们的退伍军人。根据劳工统计局的数据，超过15%的伊拉克和阿富汗战争退伍军人都处于失业状态，比全国的失业率高很多。如果我们将议案中一些灾难性的提案付诸实施，我们就会看到更多的失业的退伍军人。”

The Senate is expected to spend the next few weeks debating and writing its own version of a government funding bill. Senate Democrats say they also want to begin shrinking the deficit, but not the way House Republicans voted for.

参议院预计今后几个星期将用于辩论并起草自己的政府预算案。民主党参议员说他们也希望减少赤字，但不同意像众议院共和党人的作法。

If no compromise is found by March 4, when current funding expires, a U.S. government shutdown becomes a possibility, unless all parties, including Democratic President Obama, can agree on a short-term spending bill.

如果到3月4号目前的拨款截至日期国会仍然不能做出妥协，包括民主党人奥巴马总统在内所有人也都无法就一个短期开支议案达成一致，那么美国政府就可能关门。