(WASHINGTON) — Racing the debt clock, Congress is working on dual tracks while President Barack Obama appeals to the public in hopes of influencing a deal that talks have failed to produce so far. "We have to ask everyone to play their part because we are all part of the same country," Obama said Saturday, pushing a combination of spending cuts and tax increases that has met stiff resistance from Republicans. "We are all in this together."
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said the wealthiest must "pay their fair share." He invoked budget deals negotiated by GOP President Ronald Reagan and Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill, and Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich. "You sent us to Washington to do the tough things, the right things," he said. "Not just for some of us, but for all of us."
As a critical Aug. 2 deadline approached, the chances that Obama would get $4 trillion or even $2 trillion in deficit reduction on terms he preferred were quickly fading as Congress moved to take control of the debate. At a news conference Friday, Obama opened the door to a smaller package of deficit reductions without revenue increases.
A weekend deadline that the president gave congressional leaders to choose one of three deficit reduction options became a moot point after House and Senate leaders made it clear to the White House on Friday that they were moving ahead with their own plans.
House Republicans prepared to vote this coming week on allowing an increase in the government's borrowing limit through 2012 as long as Congress approved a balanced-budget constitutional amendment, which is highly unlikely. In the Senate, the Republican and Democratic leaders worked on a bipartisan plan that would allow Obama to raise the debt limit without a prior vote by lawmakers. The talks focused on how to address long-term deficit reduction in the proposal in hopes of satisfying House Republicans.
In the Republicans' address Saturday, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah argued for passage of a balanced-budget amendment. He blamed Democrats for failing to embrace adequate budget cuts and said "the solution to a spending crisis is not tax increases." An amendment that requires a balanced budget, he said, "would put us on a path to fiscal health and would prevent this White House or any future White House from forcing more debt on the American people."
The government said Friday it was using its last stopgap measure to avoid exceeding the current $14.3 trillion debt limit. Administration officials, economists and the financial markets have warned that missing the Aug. 2 deadline and precipitating a government default would send convulsions through an already weakened economy. Obama had held five straight days of meeting with congressional leaders at the White House, but none of the three options he proposed — deficit cuts of $4 trillion, $2 trillion or $1.5 trillion over 10 years — were unlocking enough support to increase the debt ceiling by the $2.4 trillion Obama wants to make it last beyond the 2012 elections.
Essentially declaring those discussions over, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Friday: "Now the debate will move from a room in the White House to the House and Senate floors."
In search of a deal, Obama has used a combination of private meetings with congressional leaders and high visibility press conferences, radio addresses and public statements in an effort to win the public to his side. His pitch is also aimed at independent voters, to whom he is presenting himself as a willing compromiser.
In a White House video distributed Saturday by Obama senior adviser David Plouffe to supporters, Obama is shown praising the virtue of compromise to a group Democratic, Republican an independent students. He noted that President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation permitted slavery in border states loyal to the Union, in an attempt to hold the nation together. "Here you've got a wartime president whose making a compromise around probably the greatest moral issue that the country ever faced because he understood that 'right now my job is to win the war and to maintain the union,'" Obama said. "Can you imagine how the (liberal news outlet) Huffington Post would have reported on that? It would have been blistering. Think about it, 'Lincoln sells out slaves.'" He told the students: "The nature of our democracy and the nature of our politics is to marry principle to a political process that means you don't get 100 percent of what you want."
This is a political news comment regarding the debt ceiling of fiscal deficit.
Three options are available: 1, austerity plan;2, tax increase and 3, increase the limit of debt ceiling. the second one is completely out of possibility, as Republicans hate this idea. Current crappy economic data shows little chance for the first option, though spending cut is necessary,but the question is how much of the cut. The third is very likely to be the case, because it hurts nobody in US for the short term,
obviously. this artical is about a political contest on economic issues . three options Obama proposed are deflation plan , tax increases , and raiseing debt ceiling . as we known ，republicans have always firmly opposed to tax increases . the second way faces huge obstacles . as for the first option ,serval days ago , Follow Me had talked about Q3 , america fedral reserve worried about deflation ,and the economic condition is still weakness , but adequate budget cuts is available , in sum , the first option has little posibility . as for the last option , it is liable a way to solve the current problem , both parties agree . but it will force more debt on the American people . as the last sentence says "The nature of our democracy and the nature of our politics is to marry principle to a political process that means you don't get 100 percent of what you want." President Abraham Lincoln， in order to In order to achieve victory in the civil war the use of slaves , efforts to force freedom on the surface, but in reality is to use them to achieve their political objectives . similarly , american goverment for their own interests appeal all people together to solve the problem.on the expense of their interests.
The wealthiest wont feel good when they pay the so called fair share since why they should pay for those lazy but healthy poor people. Setting a debt ceiling will be a reasonable option. From the TV ads, we can see people are calling for stopping digging the debt gap. For us, staying away from the American bonds will help both of China and States.
就是聪明呀
As a critical Aug. 2 deadline approached, the chances that Obama would get $4 trillion or even $2 trillion in deficit reduction on terms he preferred were quickly fading as Congress moved to take control of the debate. At a news conference Friday, Obama opened the door to a smaller package of deficit reductions without revenue increases.
That makes the effort primarily an opportunity for House Republicans, particularly dozens of new lawmakers elected with the support of the small government tea party movement, to symbolically show their steadfastness in demanding huge cuts in government spending, opposition to higher taxes and ideological purity in balancing the budget. there is suspicion that the talks in Washington are infused with the politics of the 2012 election in which the state of the economy will likely determine whether Obama wins a second term.
I support austerity plan and tax increase! US shouldn't borrow more and the rich shouldn't gain more like the Bush family times. The rich should give some part of their wealth to the society.
69,69
sound off
力陈己见, (士兵)报数
stiff [stif]
a.(僵)硬的；生硬的； ad.极其；僵硬地
moot [mu:t]
n. 大会, 讨论会, 辩论会
adj. 未决议的, 抽象论的
v. 使成为无实用性的东西
a moot point
有待进一步讨论的问题,悬而未决的问题
stopgap ['stɔpgæp]
n. 权宜之计
convulsion [kənˈvʌlʃən]
n.骚动，痉挛
bipartisan [ˌbaipɑ:tiˈzæn]
adj.两党的
passage ['pæsidʒ]
n.通过, 通道, 走廊, 段落, (时间的)消逝
n.斜横步
v.(使马)以斜横步前进
precipitate [priˈsipiteit]
vt.促成；使沉淀 n.沉淀物 a.突如其来的
unlocking ['ʌn'lɔkiŋ]
n. 接通, 开放, 解锁
proclamation [ˌprɔkləˈmeiʃən]
n.声明
blister [ˈblistə]
n.水疱；(油漆等的)气泡 v.(使)起泡
blistering ['blistəriŋ]
adj. 快的, 酷热的, 起泡的, 激烈的
动词blister的现在分词形式
invoke [inˈvəuk]
vt.援引, 引起, 求助, 请求, 乞灵于
[计算机] 调用
GOP
abbr.大老党(美国共和党的别称)(=Grand Old Party )
abbr.地面观测站(=Ground Observer Post)
open the door to
开门，给……大开方便之门，给……造成机会
outlet [ˈautlet]
n.出口(路)；(感情等)发泄途径等
Obama wants everyone to play their part, pushing a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. He invoked budget deals negotiated by other leading political figures and asked the wealthiest to pay their share. The package of deficit reductions is dwindling as Congress progressively takes the control of the debate. The three deficit reduction options proposed by Obama were replaced by House and Senate leaders’ own plans. The Senate tried to win the House Republicans’ affirmative votes on raising debt limit. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah from the Republicans criticized the balance-budget amendment for the inadequate budget cuts and the tax increases detrimental to the economy. The last stopgap measure has been used to avoid debt default and none of Obama’s three options to cut deficit over 10 years were supported adequately. Obama endeavors to win the public to his side. He compared his compromising role to that of Lincoln, selling out slaves in border states to maintain the union in a White House video Saturday.
试着翻译一小段：
"We have to ask everyone to play their part because we are all part of the same country," Obama said Saturday, pushing a combination of spending cuts and tax increases that has met stiff resistance from Republicans. "We are all in this together."
“我们不得不恳请每一个人都尽到他们应尽的责任，因为我们都是祖国的一员，”在推进一项旨在削减开支和增税的组合拳遭遇共和党的强烈抵制后，Obama 在周六如是说道。“我们都在同一条船上。”
it's without any dount that the option seting a new debt ceiling will be the final proposal, however it takes time for the us to prove it's success on the solving problem by pushing off the time to pay back the debt.
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there is suspicion that the talks in Washington are infused with the politics of the 2012 election in which the state of the economy will likely determine whether Obama wins a second term.
