美国总统奥巴马每周电台演讲2013.02.10

译文来自恒星网友: 刘浩男的日志

Hi, everybody. Over the last few years, Democrats and Republicans have come together and cut our deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a balanced mix of spending cuts and higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. That’s more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties say we need to stabilize our debt.

大家好。在过去的几年里，民主党人和共和党人共同努力，通过一个统筹兼顾的开支减缩和提高最富有的美国人的税率的组合政策，把我们的赤字削减了二万五千多亿美元。这已经超过了经济学家们和当选的两党官员们都认为稳定我们的债务需要削减四万亿美元的赤字的目标的一半。

I believe we can finish the job the same way we’ve started it – with a balanced mix of more spending cuts and more tax reform. And the overwhelming majority of the American people agree – both Democrats and Republicans.

我相信我们可以借这个良好的开端，百尺竿头更进一步，完成这个任务—通过一个统筹兼顾的更多的开支减缩和税收改革。绝大多数美国人—包括民主党人和共和党人都赞同这一点。

Now, my preference – and the preference of many Members of Congress – is to do that in a balanced, comprehensive way, by making sensible changes to entitlement programs and reforming our tax code. As we speak, both the House and Senate are working towards budget proposals that I hope will lay out this kind of balanced path going forward.

现在，我倾向于—很多国会议员们也都倾向于通过一个统筹兼顾的全面的方法完成这个工作，即切实地改变授权项目和税法改革。正如我们都挂在嘴边的，国会众参两院正共同努力达成各项我希望落实这个统筹兼顾的方法的预算议案。

But the budget process takes time. And right now, if Congress doesn’t act by March 1, a series of harmful, automatic cuts to job-creating investments and defense spending – also known as the sequester –are scheduled to take effect. And the result could be a huge blow to middle-class families and our economy as a whole.

但是预算草拟过程需要时间。迄今为止，如果国会不能在三月一日前采取行动，一系列不利的、自动对扩大就业的投资和国防的开支的削减—众所周知的“到期”—将如期生效。其结果是对我们的中产阶级家庭和整个经济造成重重的一击。

If the sequester is allowed to go forward, thousands of Americans who work in fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid off. Firefighters and food inspectors could also find themselves out of work – leaving our communities vulnerable. Programs like Head Start would be cut, and lifesaving research into diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s could be scaled back. Small businesses could be prevented from getting the resources and support they need to keep their doors open. People with disabilities who are waiting for their benefits could be forced to wait even longer. All our economic progress could be put at risk.

如果对这个“到期”置之不理，成千上万的在诸如国家安全、教育和清洁能源等领域工作的人们就可能下岗。消防员和食品检验员们可能发现他们也不能幸免—使我们的社区困难重重。诸如Head Start（美国健康和人文服务署启动的为贫困儿童及其家庭提供教育、健康、营养和父母关爱服务的项目—译注）之类的项目可能停止，救死扶伤的研究--诸如癌症和阿尔兹海默氏综合症的研究—可能被瘦身。小企业可能无法得到他们运营所需要的资源和支持。等待福利的残疾人们可能要等待得更久。我们的所有经济进步可能面临危机。

And then there’s the impact on our military readiness. Already, the threat of deep cuts has forced the Navy to delay an aircraft carrier that was supposed to deploy to the Persian Gulf. As our military leaders have made clear, changes like this affect our ability to respond to threats in an unstable part of the world. And we will be forced to make even more tough decisions in the weeks ahead if Congress fails to act.

接下来这个冲击就会殃及我们的军事准备。大幅削减经费的威胁已经迫使海军推迟用于部署到波斯湾的一艘航母的建造。正如我们的军事领导人所说，这类改变会影响我们应对来自世界上不稳定地区的各种威胁的能力。如果国会拒不行动，在未来的几周里，我们将被迫做出更多艰难的决定。

The good news is, there’s another option. Two months ago, we faced a similar deadline, and instead of making deep, indiscriminate cuts that would have cost us jobs and slowed down our recovery, Democrats and Republicans came together and made responsible cuts and manageable changes to our tax code that will bring down our deficit. This time, Congress should pass a similar set of balanced cuts and close more tax loopholes until they can find a way to replace the sequester with a smarter, longer-term solution.

幸运的是，我们还有一个其它选择。两个月以前，我们面对一个类似的底线，我们没有做出大幅的不分轻重缓急的牺牲就业和放缓经济复苏的削减，民主党人和共和党人共同努力做出了对税法负责任的和可控制的能够削减我们的赤字的改变。这一次，国会应该通过一系列类似的统筹兼顾的削减并且堵塞更多的税收漏洞，直到他们找到取代这个“到期”的更明智的长期的解决方案。

Right now, most Members of Congress – including many Republicans – don’t think it’s a good idea to put thousands of jobs at risk and do unnecessary damage to our economy. And yet the current Republican plan puts the burden of avoiding those cuts mainly on seniors and middle-class families. They would rather ask more from the vast majority of Americans and put our recovery at risk than close even a single tax loophole that benefits the wealthy.

现在，大多数国会议员—包括很多共和党人—都不认为危及成千上万的就业机会和无谓的损害我们的经济是个好办法。然而当前的共和党人计划把避免这些削减的负担一股脑地压在了老年人和中产阶级家庭的肩膀上。他们宁愿从广大美国人身上攫取更多、危及我们的复兴也不愿意堵塞一个仅仅有利于富人的税收漏洞。

Over the last few years, we’ve made good progress towards reducing our deficit in a balanced way. There’s no reason we can’t keep chipping away at this problem. And there’s certainly no reason that middle-class families and small businesses should suffer just because Washington couldn’t come together and eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes, or government programs that just don’t work. At a time when economists and business leaders from across the spectrum have said that our economy is poised for progress, we shouldn’t allow self-inflicted wounds to put that progress in jeopardy.

在过去的几年里，我们在以统筹兼顾的方法削减我们的赤字的道路上取得了可喜的进步。我们没有理由不继续消除这个问题。我们也当然没有理由让中产阶级家庭和小企业饱受苦难，而这个苦难是因为华盛顿不能共同努力消除少数特殊利益税收漏洞，或劳而无功的政府项目造成的。在这个来自各个领域的经济学家和企业领导人都认为我们的经济正蓄势待发的时候，我们不应该让自己造成的创伤危害我们的进步。

So my message to Congress is this: let’s keep working together to solve this problem. And let’s give our workers and our businesses the support they need to grow and thrive. Thanks, and have a great weekend.

所以我给国会的忠告就是：让我们共同努力解决这个问题。让我们给我们的工人们和企业他们成长和繁荣所需要的支持。

谢谢，周末快乐！