What Is This ‘Filibuster’ Americans Are Talking About?

This week, the U.S. Senate will vote on whether to accept Donald Trump's nomination for the Supreme Court.
本周，美国参议院将投票决定是否接受川普的最高法院大法官提名。
The president has asked Congress to approve federal judge Neil Gorsuch, who is 49 years old.
川普要求国会批准49岁的联邦法官尼尔·戈萨奇(Neil Gorsuch)进入最高法院。

If he is approved, Gorsuch will fill the position that has been open since February 2016, when Justice Antonin Scalia died. Under the U.S. Constitution, the president nominates Supreme Court Justices, and Congress decides whether to approve them.
如果被批准，戈萨奇将填补2016年2月份安东宁·斯卡利亚（Antonin Scalia）大法官去世后留下的职位空缺。根据美国宪法，总统提名最高法院大法官，国会决定是否批准。

If Gorsuch is approved, he will be permitted to stay on the Court for the rest of his life, and to help determine the meaning of the country's laws -- including on disputed issues related to guns and abortion. He would restore the 5-4 conservative majority before Scalia's death.
如果戈萨奇被批准，他将被允许终生在最高法院任职，并帮助确定该国法律在包括同枪支和堕胎有关的争议问题上的含义。他还将重建斯卡利亚去世前保守派5比4的多数优势。

In the days leading up to the Senate's decision, many people are arguing about the vote. Two words especially are coming up: filibuster and nuclear option.
在参议院即将做出决定前的几天，很多人都为这次投票争论不休。冒出来两个特别字眼：冗长演说和核选择。

Democrats, who in general do not support Gorsuch, are threatening to filibuster. And Republicans, who support him, are threatening to use the nuclear option.
一般不会支持戈萨奇的民主党人威胁要发表冗长演说阻挠议程。而支持戈萨奇的共和党人威胁要使用核选择。

But what do these words mean?
但是这两个字眼是什么意思呢？

The filibuster
（发表）冗长演说（阻挠议程）

A filibuster is a way of delaying a vote. The political party with the smaller number – or minority – in Congress can use it to prevent lawmakers from voting.
冗长演说是一种拖延投票的办法。国会中占少数的政党可以利用它来阻挠立法者投票。

The filibuster has been part of Senate rules since the 1800s.
自19世纪以来，冗长演说一直是参议院规定的一部分。

Historically, senators filibustered by speaking for many hours -- often overnight -- to block votes.
历史上，参议员通过长达几个小时，通常是彻夜的发言来阻止投票。

For example, during the 1930s Senator Huey Long of Louisiana spoke against bills he said favored the rich over the poor. Once he talked for 15 hours, the Senate Historical Office says. Long filled the time by reading from William Shakespeare's plays and sharing his favorite food recipes.
例如，在20世纪30年代期间，路易斯安那州的参议员Huey Long发言反对他认为嫌贫爱富的议案。参议院历史办公室说他一次讲了15个小时，他靠念莎士比亚的剧本和分享他最喜欢的食谱来消磨这段漫长的时间。

Now, senators do not usually talk continuously to filibuster. Instead, they insist that the majority party come up with 60 votes to end debate and schedule a vote. If the majority party falls short of 60 votes, the vote is blocked.
现在，参议员们通常不会连续发言阻挠议程。相反，他们坚决要求多数党拿出60票来才能结束辩论并进行表决。如果多数党拿不到60票，表决就被阻止。

Democrats, who are in the minority party in the Senate, say they will filibuster the vote on Gorsuch.
参议院少数派民主党表示，他们将会发表冗长演说阻止对戈萨奇的投票。

The nuclear option
核选择

But Republicans who want Gorsuch to start hearing cases right away are preparing to counter the Democrats' move.
但是共和党人希望戈萨奇立即开始受理案件，他们准备对抗民主党人的行动。

Under Senate rules, lawmakers can stop a filibuster. If 60 out of the 100 senators agree, debate can be stopped and a vote scheduled.
根据参议院规定，议员们可以阻止冗长演说。如果100名参议员中有60人同意，就能阻止辩论并进行表决。

But Republicans do not have the 60 votes to stop the Democrats' filibuster. Only 52 of the lawmakers are Republicans and not enough Democrats will support their move to stop the filibuster.
And that explains why Senate Republicans say they will use the "nuclear option."
但是共和党没有阻止民主党发表冗长演说的60票。只有52名议员是共和党人，没有足够多的民主党人会支持他们阻止冗长演说的行动。

In this case, the phrase means to change a rule in the Senate. Republicans will move to change a rule that would allow a simple majority of senators to end debate and schedule a vote. A rule change only requires a majority vote.
在这种情况下，（核选择）这个短语是指修改参议院规定。共和党人将采取行动修改规定，从而允许占简单多数的参议员阻止辩论并进行投票。修改规定只需要多数票通过。

Why is it called the nuclear option?
这为何被称之为核选择？

This change in Senate rules was first described as the "nuclear option" back in 2003.
参议院规定的这种改变在2013年首次被称之为“核选择”。

The reason: Some compared a difficult political situation in the Senate to the Cold War between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. It was said that nuclear deterrence -- that both nations had enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other -- meant neither country was likely to attack the other.
原因是：有人将参议院的困难政治局面同美苏冷战进行了对比。据说，美苏两国都有足够核武器毁灭对手的这种核威慑，意味着这两个国家都不可能攻击另一国。

Gregory Koger teaches political science at the University of Miami in Florida.
格雷戈里·科格（Gregory Koger）在佛罗里达州迈阿密大学教政治学。

As was the case with the Soviet Union and the U.S., Koger said, Democrats and Republicans know the party that approves the "nuclear option" will pay a price. For Republicans, it will come when Democrats reclaim the Senate majority and are able to confirm Supreme Court justices with a simple majority.
科格说，正如苏联和美国这种情况一样，民主党人和共和党人都知道批准核选择的政党将会付出代价。对于共和党人来说，当民主党人重新获得参议院多数优势，能够以简单多数确认最高法院大法官时，他们就会要付出代价。

Koger said the Senate has long worked on the common belief that "nobody gets everything they want," and that compromise is needed to get things done. A vote to end the filibuster for Supreme Court judges, he said, "signals the end of that way of doing things."
科格表示，参议院长期以来一直坚持认为“没有人能够得到他们想要的一切”，而妥协是实现目标所必需的。他说，投票终止阻挠最高法院大法官议程的冗长演说，标志着那种做事方式（指妥协）的结束。

Why are we in this situation?
我们为什么会陷入这种局面？

The current fight over the Gorsuch nomination goes back to the Obama administration.
目前对戈萨奇提名的斗争可以追溯到奥巴马政府。

Republicans blocked votes on many judicial and administration nominees from President Barack Obama, a Democrat, particularly in his second term.
共和党人阻止了奥巴马总统这位民主党人对很多司法和行政提名人的投票，尤其是在他的第二任总统任期内。

Senate Democrats responded by changing Senate rules in 2013. No longer would 60 votes be needed to end a filibuster against judicial nominees and top positions in the government.
参议院民主党人在2013年以修改参议院规定作出回应，从而不再需要60票才能结束反对司法提名人和政府高级职位的冗长演说。

But the filibuster remained available for Supreme Court nominations -- a rule Senate Republicans are ready to change this week.
但是发表冗长演说阻挠议程对最高法院提名来说仍然有效，参议院的共和党人本周正准备修改这项规定。

Republicans took over the Senate majority from Democrats in 2015. And in 2016, Republican leaders refused to hold hearings or vote on Obama's final nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Merrick Garland. Republican leaders said the choice should go to the next president.
共和党人2015年从民主党手中接过了参议院多数派的优势。而在2016年，共和党领导人拒绝对奥巴马最后提名梅里克·加兰（Merrick Garland）法官进入最高法院进行听证或投票。共和党领导人表示，这一选择应该留给下任总统。

And now Trump, a Republican, is president. Less than two weeks after taking office, he chose Gorsuch for the Supreme Court.
而现在共和党人川普成为了总统。在他就任不到两周，他就提名了戈萨奇进入最高法院。