Obama, Congress Face 'Fiscal Cliff'

 Obama, Congress Face 'Fiscal¹ Cliff'

Newly re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama and his political opponents in Congress are facing an end-of-the-year deadline to reach a deal on taxes and spending cuts that has proved both contentious² and elusive³ for the last two years.

As it stands, $600 billion in spending cuts for key defense⁴ and domestic programs are set to take effect January 1, and tax cuts affecting all American workers would expire, with the government then taking more money out of their paychecks.

The country's presidential and congressional elections were held this week. Now Obama, the incumbent⁵ who won a new four-year term, and his Democratic allies in the Senate are set to negotiate with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to see if they can reach a pact⁶ to avoid cascading⁷ over what Washington is calling a "fiscal cliff."

The independent Congressional Budget Office on Thursday laid out the importance of reaching a deal.

It said that failure to reach an agreement would be dire⁸ for the fragile U.S. economy, the world's largest. The financial analysts⁹ said that if no deal is reached by year's end, the country's already-sluggish economy would contract by five-tenths of a percent in 2013, and that the jobless rate would jump from 7.9 percent last month to 9.1 percent by the end of next year.

But reaching a deal will not be easy, with Obama calling for the end to tax cuts for households earning more than $250,000 a year and Republicans adamantly¹⁰ against raising tax rates.  The Republican House leader, John Boehner, says that Republicans would be open to some form of increasing government revenues, possibly through elimination¹¹ of various tax deductions¹², as long as Democrats¹³ agree to reform spending for government pension and health care programs for the elderly.

President Obama and Boehner came close to reaching a long-term deal debt and spending deal in 2011, but it fell apart, leading to the pact calling for the mandated¹⁴ spending cuts and the tax changes that would take effect in January.

Neither the president nor his political opponents want the mandates¹⁵ to take effect, but put the possibility of them in place as a way to force an agreement by a certain deadline.

As the cumulative¹⁶ U.S. government debt total continues to mount, Obama and the lawmakers will also face a decision early in 2013 on whether to increase the amount the country can borrow beyond the current $16 trillion level.  Obama has pledged to work for a plan that would reduce the debt level over a period of years, but also has been unable to reach an agreement on that issue with his Republican opponents.

1 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

2 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

3 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

6 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

7 cascading   

流注( cascade的现在分词 )； 大量落下； 大量垂悬； 梯流

参考例句：

• First of all, cascading menus are to be avoided at all costs. 首先，无论如何都要避免使用级联菜单。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Her sounds began cascading gently. 他的声音开始缓缓地低落下来。

8 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

9 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

10 adamantly   

adv.坚决地，坚定不移地，坚强不屈地

参考例句：

• "Come over here,"he told her adamantly. “到这边来，”他对她坚定地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His family were adamantly opposed to the marriage. 他的家人坚决反对这门亲事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

12 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

13 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

15 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

16 cumulative   

adj.累积的，渐增的

参考例句：

• This drug has a cumulative effect.这种药有渐增的效力。
• The benefits from eating fish are cumulative.吃鱼的好处要长期才能显现。