Congressional Leaders Optimistic About Fiscal Talks

 Congressional Leaders Optimistic About Fiscal¹ Talks

WHITE HOUSE — Republican and Democratic congressional leaders voiced optimism after White House talks Friday with  President about chances for an agreement to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" facing the United States.  The White House called the talks constructive³. 

Emerging after just over an hour of talks with the president, House and Senate leaders assessed the meeting positively⁴.

The House Speaker, Republican Congressman⁵ John Boehner, said he presented a "framework" that he believes is consistent with Obama's goal of achieving a balanced deficit⁶-reduction agreement.

Boehner and others confirmed that the contentious⁷ issue of new revenue to pay for deficit reduction is now on the table in negotiations⁸, but the Ohio congressman stressed the critical importance of identifying spending reductions.

"While we're going to continue to have revenue on the table, it is going to be incumbent⁹ on my colleagues to show the American people that we are serious about cutting spending and solving our fiscal dilemma," said Boehner.

The Senate majority leader, Democrat² Harry¹⁰ Reid, also sounded an optimistic tone, saying all at the table with Obama realize that postponing¹¹ an agreement is not an option.

"We all know something has be done. There is no more 'let's do it some other time.' We're going to do it now, we feel very comfortable with each other, and this is not something we are going to wait until the last day of December to get it done," said Reid.

Obama opened the meeting with a call for bipartisan cooperation.

"Our challenge is to make sure we are able to cooperate together, work together, [find] some common ground, make some tough compromises, build some consensus¹² to do the  people's business.  And what the folks are looking for, and I think all of us agree on this, is action.  They want to see that we are focused on them, not focused on our politics here in Washington," said President Obama.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she feels confident about reaching an agreement, and hopes the risk of another economic downturn can be averted¹³.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell reiterated¹⁴ a call to bring down spending on entitlement programs, saying a solution requires fixing "the real problem."

The so-called "fiscal cliff" refers to about $600 billion in combined tax increases and spending cuts taking effect January 1st if there is no agreement by Congress and the president.

Tax rises and deep budget cuts would take place automatically, under terms of a legally binding¹⁵ bipartisan agreement in 2011 that put off the deadline for debt reduction until 2013.

Before the talks, the White House said the president's opening position would be a proposal to generate a combined $1.6 trillion in new revenue for the government over the next decade.  

With added political clout¹⁶ from his election victory, Obama has refused any deficit deal that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for the top two percent of income earners.

But he has also signaled flexibility¹⁷, saying he remains¹⁸ open to steps that would bring further savings¹⁹ from huge government entitlement programs.

Republicans have generally resisted raising taxes on the wealthy, but are under pressure to moderate the obstructionism they demonstrated in the president's first term.  

Speaker Boehner said the framework he put forward in Friday's meeting is aimed at reforming the tax code.  But specifics of this remain unclear.

The calendar for progress is tight, with members of Congress about to return to their home districts for the annual Thanksgiving holiday recess²⁰.

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 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

4 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

5 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

6 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

7 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。

8 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

9 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。

10 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

11 postponing   

v.延期，推迟( postpone的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He tried to gain time by postponing his decision. 他想以迟迟不作决定的手段来争取时间。 来自辞典例句
• I don't hold with the idea of postponing further discussion of the matter. 我不赞成推迟进一步讨论这件事的想法。 来自辞典例句

12 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

13 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

14 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

15 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

16 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

17 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

18 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

19 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

20 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。