美国总统奥巴马发表有关美国财政状况讲话

2012-04-20 00:00:00来源：可可英语

　　Now, what makes today’s stalemate so dangerous is that it has been tied to something known as the debt ceiling -- a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before.
　　今天，这种僵局之所以如此危险，是因为它与被称作国债上限的东西挂了钩，政府以外的大多数人过去也许从未听说过这一术语。

　　Understand -- raising the debt ceiling does not allow Congress to spend more money. It simply gives our country the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already racked up. In the past, raising the debt ceiling was routine. Since the 1950s, Congress has always passed it, and every President has signed it. President Reagan did it 18 times. George W. Bush did it seven times. And we have to do it by next Tuesday, August 2nd, or else we won’t be able to pay all of our bills.　
　　需要澄清的是，提高国债上限并不是允许国会花更多的钱。它只是使我们的国家有能力支付国会已经累积起来的账单。过去提高国债上限是例行公事。自1950年代以来，国会总是予以通过，每一任总统都签过字。里根总统签过18次，乔治 W 布什总统签过7次。我必须在下个星期二，即8月2日签字，否则，我们将无法支付我们所有的账单。

Unfortunately, for the past several weeks, Republican House members have essentially said that the only way they’ll vote to prevent America’s first-ever default is if the rest of us agree to their deep, spending cuts-only approach.
　　令人遗憾的是，过去几周来，众议院共和党议员实质上是说，要他们投票防止美国历史上首次债务违约发生，唯一途径是我们其他人都同意他们提出的仅仅大幅削减支出的方式。

　　If that happens, and we default, we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills -- bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans’ benefits, and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses.
　　如果这种情况发生了，我们违约了，我们就没有足够的钱来支付我们所有的账单，其中包括每月社保支票、退伍军人福利以及我们同数以千计的企业签订的政府合同。

　　For the first time in history, our country’s AAA credit rating would be downgraded, leaving investors around the world to wonder whether the United States is still a good bet. Interest rates would skyrocket on credit cards, on mortgages and on car loans, which amounts to a huge tax hike on the American people. We would risk sparking a deep economic crisis -- this one caused almost entirely by Washington.
　　我们国家的AAA信贷评级将有史以来首次下调，使世界各地的投资者怀疑美国是否仍是一个值得投资的目的地。信用卡、房贷和汽车贷款利率将会飙升，这等于是大幅增加美国人民的税负。我们将会面临引发深度经济危机的危险，而这样一场危机将纯粹是由联邦政府造成的。

　　So defaulting on our obligations is a reckless and irresponsible outcome to this debate. And Republican leaders say that they agree we must avoid default. But the new approach that Speaker Boehner unveiled today, which would temporarily extend the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, would force us to once again face the threat of default just six months from now. In other words, it doesn’t solve the problem.　
　　因此，债务欠付将是这场辩论带来的草率和不负责任的后果。共和党领导人说，他们同意我们必须避免债务欠付。但众议院博纳议长今天公布的新方式，即以临时提高国债上限换取削减支出的方式，将迫使我们在短短6个月之后再次面临债务欠付的威胁。换言之，这样做并不解决问题。

本文关键字: 美国人民