美国总统奥巴马每周电台演讲2013.04.28

Hi, everybody. Our top priority as a nation must be growing the economy, creating good jobs, and rebuilding opportunity for the middle class.

大家好。我们作为一个国家的第一要务只能是发展经济，创造好的就业机会，重新为中产阶级打造机会。

But two months ago, Congress allowed a series of automatic budget cuts to fall across the federal government that would do the opposite. In Washington-speak, these cuts were called the “sequester.” It was a bad idea then. And as the country saw this week, it’s a bad idea now.

但是两个月以前，国会坐观联邦政府遭遇一系列预算自动削减，这与此背道而驰。用华盛顿的话来讲，这些自动削减叫做“预算封顶”。这在当时就不是好主意。直到本周，就全国的情况来看，它现在也不是好主意。

Because of these reckless cuts, there are parents whose kids just got kicked out of Head Start programs scrambling for a solution. There are seniors who depend on programs like Meals on Wheels to live independently looking for help. There are military communities – families that have already sacrificed enough – coping under new strains. All because of these cuts.

因为这些草率的削减，很多家长眼看着他们的孩子们被踢出Head Start（一项美国健康和人文服务部发起的为低收入家庭孩子提供全面的教育、健康、营养和家长参与的服务项目—译注）项目而束手无策。很多依靠“送餐车”（一个为行动不便的鳏寡孤独提供饮食服务的项目）生活的老人们不得不自己找出路。很多军人家庭—已经做出了很大牺牲—不得不应对新的紧日子。这一切都源于这些削减。

This week, the sequester hurt travelers, who were stuck for hours in airports and on planes, and rightly frustrated by it. And, maybe because they fly home each weekend, the Members of Congress who insisted these cuts take hold finally realized that they actually apply to them too.

本周这个“预算封顶”殃及旅行者了，他们在机场和飞机上滞留了几个小时，实实在在地被它坑苦了。因为很多坚持这些削减生效的国会议员们周末都要乘飞机回家，或许他们也自食其果了。

Republicans claimed victory when the sequester first took effect, and now they’ve decided it was a bad idea all along. Well, first, they should look at their own budget. If the cuts they propose were applied across the board, the FAA would suffer cuts three times deeper.

那些宣称“预算封顶”初战告捷的共和党人现在也已经承认它从来就不是和主意。所以，他们应该首先看看自己的预算。如果他们的提议全面实施，联邦航空管理局的预算将削减三倍。

So Congress passed a temporary fix. A Band-Aid. But these cuts are scheduled to keep falling across other parts of the government that provide vital services for the American people. And we can’t just keep putting Band-Aids on every cut. It’s not a responsible way to govern. There is only one way to truly fix the sequester: by replacing it before it causes further damage.

于是国会通过了一项临时解决方案。不过是一副“创可贴”。但是这些削减到时候将影响其它为美国人民提供至关重要的服务的政府部门。我们没办法给每个削减都贴个“创可贴”。这不是负责任的管理国家的方法。解决“预算封顶”只有一个切实可行的方法：在它造成更大损失之前取代它。

A couple weeks ago, I put forward a budget that replaces the next several years of these dumb cuts with smarter cuts; reforms our tax code to close wasteful special interest loopholes; and invests in things like education, research, and manufacturing that will create new jobs right now.

几周前，我提出一个预算以明智的削减取代未来这些几年盲目削减的预算；改革税法以堵塞有利于特殊利益群体的漏洞；投资于将创造新就业机会的诸如教育、研究和制造业等。

So I hope Members of Congress will find the same sense of urgency and bipartisan cooperation to help the families still in the crosshairs of these cuts. They may not feel the pain felt by kids kicked off Head Start, or the 750,000 Americans projected to lose their jobs because of these cuts, or the long-term unemployed who will be further hurt by them. But that pain is real.

所以我希望国会议员们抱有同样的紧迫感和两党合作意识来帮助那些受到这些削减影响的家庭。他们可能还没有感觉到他们的孩子们被踢出Head Start项目的痛苦，或750,000美国人由于这些削减失业的痛苦，或长期失业者们还没有感觉到被这些削减进一步伤害的痛苦。但是这些痛苦着实存在。

The American people worked too hard, for too long, rebuilding from one economic crisis just to see your elected officials keep causing more. Our economy is growing. Our deficits are shrinking. We’re creating jobs on a consistent basis. But we need to do more to help middle-class families get ahead, and give more folks a chance to earn their way into the middle class. And we can, if we work together. That’s what you expect. That’s what I’m going to work every single day to help deliver.

美国人民如此长期努力工作，绝不能走出一个经济危机再看着他们选出的官员们顽固地造成更大的危机。我们的经济正在增长。我们的赤字正在减少。我们正在创造可持续的就业机会。但是我们应该更进一步帮助中产阶级家庭过得更好，给更多的人跻身中产阶级的机会。如果我们共同努力，我们一定能实现这个目标。这是你们的希望。这是我每天工作所要达到的目的。

Thanks so much.

非常感谢。