VOA慢速英语:Obama Administration Proposes Federal Budget

This week, the Obama administration released a budget plan for the 2014 fiscal year. The plan calls for three trillion 770 billion dollars in federal spending during the year beginning in October.
本周，奥巴马政府公布2014财年的预算计划。计划提出自今年10月开始的联邦开支设为3.77万亿美元。

President Barack Obama calls the proposal, “a fiscally responsible blueprint” for middle class jobs and economic growth. The budget is his attempt to move closer to a “grand bargain” he sought in debt and deficit reduction talks with Republican Party lawmakers.
总统巴拉克•奥巴马称该计划是为帮助中产阶级就业和促进经济增长而制定的“负责人的财政蓝图”。 他希望通过该预算案，在同共和党国会议员进行的债务和赤字削减对话中，实现他所追求的“重大交易”。

The plan includes one-point-eight trillion dollars in deficit reduction over 10 years. It also adds two-point-five trillion dollars in savings the president says have already been realized. This would bring total savings to four-point-three trillion dollars.
该计划包括，在未来10年内将削减1.8万亿美元赤字，还包括奥巴马声称已经实现的节省支出2.5万亿美元。这合计将节省支出4.3万亿美元。

Mr. Obama says his budget proposal seeks to end what he calls short-sighted, crisis-driven decision-making here in Washington.
奥巴马先生说，希望通过预算提议结束他所谓的“华盛顿短视、危机驱动的决策。”

“For years, the debate in this town has raged between reducing our deficits at all costs and making the investments necessary to grow our economy. And this budget answers that argument because we can do both. We can grow our economy and shrink our deficits.”
“多年来，我们的辩论都集中在减少各方面的赤字和进行必要投资以促进经济发展这样的问题上。该预算案解决了这一争论，因为我们可以同时进行。我们可以在发展经济的同时减少赤字。”

To become law, the president’s budget would require congressional approval, which political experts say is unlikely. His budget would replace tens of billions of dollars in required spending cuts. Those cuts went into effect on January first. Mr. Obama also wants to limit legal ways businesses and wealthy individuals can avoid paying taxes. And he wants to establish a minimum 30 percent tax on people earning one million dollars or more a year.
总统的预算要成为法律还需得到议会批准，而政治专家称这是不可能的。他的预算将替换掉数百亿美元必要的开支削减，这些削减计划已于1月1日生效。奥巴马还希望限制企业和富人逃税的法律途径，并希望对年收入100万美元以上者征收至少30%的税。

President Obama, who is a Democrat, says he has gone more than halfway to meet concerns of Republican lawmakers who have resisted tax increases.
作为民主党人的奥巴马总统表示，自己已满足了反对增税的共和党议员的关切的大部分事宜。

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, gives Mr. Obama credit for seeking more savings from Social Security and other big entitlement programs. But he says the president’s proposals are another attempt to increase taxes.
众议院的共和党议长约翰•博纳是共和党人，他赞扬奥巴马从社会保障和其他大型应得权益计划获取更多储蓄的做法，但他说总统的提议也是在试图增税。

“He does deserve some credit for some incremental entitlement reforms that he has outlined in his budget. But I would hope that he would not hold hostage these modest reforms for his demand for bigger tax hikes.”
“他的预算计划中提出了一些增量权利改革，这点确实值得赞扬。但我希望他不要以这些适度改革为要挟寻求增税。”

The president is proposing savings by using a new method to set cost of living increases for Social Security payments. But this proposal has angered many members of Mr. Obama’s Democratic Party.
奥巴马总统提议通过增加社会保障费用来提高生活成本，促进节约。但这个建议激怒了奥巴马的民主党阵营中的很多成员。

Another critic, Senator Bernie Sanders, is an independent. He says the proposal is a cancellation of a promise Mr. Obama made as a presidential candidate.
另一位评论家，议员伯尼•桑德斯是独立人士，他说该提议背弃了奥巴马做总统候选人时的承诺。

“When Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, he said that he would not cut Social Security.”
“当奥巴马2008年竞选总统时，他说过不会削减社会保障项目。”

Mr. Obama defended his Social Security offer and changes to Medicare, the health insurance program for older adults and Americans with disabilities. But he says any compromise must not hurt Americans who depend on these programs.
奥巴马先生对自己的社会保障提议、医疗保险修改、老年人和残疾人医疗保险计划辩护。但他说，任何妥协都不能损害那些依赖这些项目的美国人的利益。

 “I do not believe that all these ideas are optimal. But I am willing to accept them as part of a compromise, if and only if they contain protections for the most vulnerable Americans.
“我并不认为所有的提议都是最佳的，但只有当它们能保护美国最弱势群体时，我愿意接受他们作为妥协的一部分。”

President Obama’s budget will go nowhere without the support of the two main political parties. Senate Democrats and House Republicans have their own separate spending plans.
没有两个主要政党的支持，总统奥巴马的预算也将毫无意义。参议院的民主党和众议院的共和党都有各自的开支计划。