美国总统奥巴马每周电台演讲2013.03.02

译文来自恒星网友: 刘浩男的日志

Hi, everybody. On Friday, I met with leaders of both parties in Congress to try and find a way forward in light of the severe budget cuts – known in Washington as “the sequester” – that have already started to inflict pain on communities across the country.

大家好。在周五，我约见了国会的两党领导人努力寻找在大规模预算削减—在华盛顿称为“预算封顶”，它已经开始让全国的各个社区感到寒意了--笼罩下的前进道路。

These cuts are not smart. They will hurt our economy and cost us jobs. And Congress can turn them off at any time – as soon as both sides are willing to compromise.

这些削减不明智。它们损害我们的经济并且减少我们的就业机会。国会可以在任何时候叫停它们—两党愿意达成妥协马上就可以。

As a nation, we’ve already fought back from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, and we ’ll get through this, too. But at a time when our businesses are finally gaining some traction, hiring new workers, bringing jobs back to America – the last thing Washington should do is to get in their way. That’s what these cuts to education, research, and defense will do. It’s unnecessary. And at a time when too many of our friends and neighbors are still looking for work, it’s inexcusable.

作为一个国家，我们已经在我们一生中遇到的最严重的经济危机中杀出一条血路了，我们也必将走出危机。但是在我们的企业最终开始产生一些吸引力、雇佣新员工并且把就业机会带回美国的时候—华盛顿所致的最后一件事却是设置障碍。削减教育、研究和国防的结果就是这样。这毫无必要。在我们那么多的朋友和邻居仍然在苦苦寻找工作时，这无法容忍。

Now, it’s important to understand that, while not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away, the pain will be real. Many middle-class families will have their lives disrupted in a significant way.

现在我们必须明白这一点，尽管不是所有人都感觉到了这些马上生效的削减的寒意，但是这种寒意的确存在。很多中产阶级家庭将发现他们的生活受到极大影响。

Beginning this week, businesses that work with the military will have to lay folks off. Communities near military bases will take a serious blow. Hundreds of thousands of Americans who serve their country – Border Patrol agents, FBI agents, civilians who work for the Defense Department – will see their wages cut and their hours reduced.

从本周开始，那些与军工有关的企业就该裁员了。军事基地附近的社区就会受到巨大打击。成千上万的为国尽忠的美国人—边防巡逻机构、FBI机构、在国防部工作的文职人员—就会发现他们的工资和工时都减少了。

This will cause a ripple effect across the economy. Businesses will suffer because customers will have less money to spend. The longer these cuts remain in place, the greater the damage. Economists estimate they could eventually cost us more than 750,000 jobs and slow our economy by over one-half of one percent.

这将对经济产生连锁反应。企业将因顾客囊中羞涩而受害。这些削减持续时间越长，其危害越大。经济学家们估计它们最终将减少750,000个就业机会和使我们的经济放缓0.5个百分点。

Here ’s the thing: none of this is necessary. It ’s happening because Republicans in Congress chose this outcome over closing a single wasteful tax loophole that helps reduce the deficit. Just this week, they decided that protecting special interest tax breaks for the well-off and well-connected is more important than protecting our military and middle-class families from these cuts.

这件事的本质是：没有一件必须发生。它之所以发生是因为国会的共和党议员选择这个出口而不是堵塞任何一个有利于减少赤字的税法漏洞。就在本周，他们决定维护有利于那些富可敌国和神通广大的人们的特殊利益的税务减免，认为这比保护我们的军队和中产阶级家庭不受削减影响更重要。

I still believe we can and must replace these cuts with a balanced approach – one that combines smart spending cuts with entitlement reform and changes to our tax code that make it more fair for families and businesses without raising anyone’s tax rates. That’s how we can reduce our deficit without laying off workers, or forcing parents and students to pay the price. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. It’s the kind of approach I’ve proposed for two years now. A majority of the American people agree with me on this approach – including a majority of Republicans. We just need Republicans in Congress to catch up with their own party and the rest of the country.

我始终认为我们应该用一个统筹兼顾的方法代替这些削减—包括带有政府资助改革和税法改革的明智的削减，这个税法改革不让任何人的税率增加，因此都各个家庭和企业都公平。因此我们可以减少赤字而不解雇个人或让家长和学生为削减赤字买单。我不认为这是要求过多。这是我已经提出两年了的方法。大多数美国人都同意我的这个方法—包括大多数共和党人。我们仅仅需要国会共和党议员们跟上他们自己的党以及除了他们以外的国人。

Now, I know there are Republicans in Congress who would actually rather see tax loopholes closed than let these cuts go through. And I know there are Democrats who ’d rather do smart entitlement reform than let these cuts go through. There’s a caucus of common sense. And I’m going to keep reaching out to them to fix this for good.

现在我知道国会有些共和党议员愿意堵塞税法漏洞而不是执行这些削减。我知道有些民主党议员愿意明智地改革政府资助而不是执行这些削减。有些党内团体还是很开明的。我将保持与他们的合作落实这些利好。

Because the American people are weary of perpetual partisanship and brinksmanship. This is America, and in America, we don’t careen from one manufactured crisis to another. We make smart choices. We plan. We prioritize. So I’m going to push through this paralysis and keep fighting for the real challenges facing middle-class families. I’m going to keep pushing for high-quality preschool for every family that wants it, and make sure the minimum wage becomes a wage you can live on. I ’m going to keep pushing to fix our immigration system, repair our transportation system, and keep our children safe from gun violence.

因为美国人民厌倦了没完没了的党派争端和边缘政策。这是美国，在美国，我们不能容忍从一个人为的危机转入另一个危机。我们要做出明智的选择。我们有计划。我们有轻重缓急。我将撇开这些累赘继续应对中产阶级家庭面对的挑战。我将为每个有需要的家庭继续推行高质量的学前教育，确保最低工资能保证你们过得好。我将继续推进改革移民体系，完善我们的交通系统并且保护我们的孩子们不受涉枪暴力的威胁。

That’s the work you elected me to do. That’s what I’m focused on every single day.

这是你们选我当总统该做的。这是我每天都努力去做的。

Thanks so much.

非常感谢！