美国国家公共电台 NPR 拜登1.9万亿美元疫情经济刺激计划通过

The House of Representatives has approved a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. For those of you keeping track, with this bill, Congress has now spent roughly $6 trillion to bail¹ the country out of the havoc² caused by the pandemic. And to put that into perspective, that is about seven times larger than the stimulus³ passed back during the Great Recession of 2009. This latest bill includes a fresh round of $1,400 stimulus checks, also a new and expanded child tax credit, rent relief, utility relief and more money to help the uninsured buy health coverage⁴ through Obamacare. The bill passed with no support from Republicans. President Biden plans to sign the bill into law on Friday.

众议院批准了一项1.9万亿美元的冠状病毒救助计划。密切关注这项计划的听众朋友应该知道，该法案通过后，国会已累计出台6万亿美元拯救国家措施，旨在使美国摆脱新冠疫情造成的灾难。从这个角度来看，这一数字大约是2009年经济大萧条时期经济刺激计划的7倍。这项最新法案包括新一轮1400美元的经济刺激计划，还包括新增和扩大的儿童税收抵免、房租减免、公用事业减免，以及更多资金帮助未上保险者通过奥巴马医改购买医疗保险。这项法案虽然获得通过，但没有任何一名共和党人支持。拜登总统计划在周五签署该法案，使之成为法律。

NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell joins us now with the latest. Hey, Kelsey.

NPR新闻的国会记者凯尔西·斯内尔将带来最新报。你好，凯尔西。

KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE⁵: Hi there.

凯尔西·斯奈尔连线：你好。

KELLY: So no support from Republicans. And to lay out, Republicans say they oppose it because it's not targeted enough, they argue, at controlling the virus. They also say it's just — we don't need to spend this much because the economy is already on the path to recovery. Do they have a point?

凯利：没有得到共和党人的支持。共和党表示，他们反对这项计划，因为该计划在控制病毒方面的目标不够明确。他们还表示，我们不需要花费这么多资金，因为经济已经在复苏的道路上。他们有道理吗？

SNELL: What we're talking about here is really a question of two really different ways of viewing the economy and this pandemic. Republicans say that GDP numbers, Wall Street, all of these things are improving. They're — you know, the unemployment rate is falling. And they point to funding for the arts and humanities programs, museums and things like that as not necessarily about the pandemic on the face. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said it just isn't sustainable.

斯奈尔：问题在于，这是看待经济和这场疫情的两种完全不同的方式。共和党人认为，GDP数据、华尔街形势，所有这些都在改善。失业率正在逐步下降。他们指出，为艺术和人文项目、博物馆和类似项目提供的资金并不一定与新冠疫情有关。众议院少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡表示，这是不可持续的。

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KEVIN MCCARTHY: It showers money on special interests but spends less than 9% on actually defeating the virus.

凯文·麦卡锡：法案将大量资金花在特殊兴趣上，但实际战胜病毒的花费不到9%。

SNELL: They're really focusing on that money, about getting vaccines⁷ out there, reopening schools. That is the core of what Republicans say the money should be spent on. And some Republicans said during the debate today on the House floor that sending checks to people is just popular. But they think people will object once they realize how much the government is spending on things that are not directly related to coronavirus relief.

斯奈尔：他们非常关注推广疫苗和重新开学等领域所需的资金。这就是共和党人所说的这笔钱应该花在哪些方面的核心。一些共和党人在今天众议院的辩论中表示，给人们寄支票是很受欢迎的措施。但他们认为，一旦人们意识到政府在与冠状病毒救援无关的事情上花费了多少钱，他们就会反对。

KELLY: OK. Now how do Democrats⁸ respond to all that?

凯利：好。民主党人作何回应？

SNELL: You know, Democrats say that Wall Street gains really just paper over major problems in the economy that are not felt by the vast majority of people. The vast majority of people are not stockholders. And they say this bill is meant to be a big social safety net. It's supposed to have more support for the uninsured like you mentioned, more support for families with children, people who are unemployed⁹, people who are homeless and people who are struggling to make rent.

斯奈尔：民主党人表示，华尔街的收益实际上只是掩盖了绝大多数人感受不到的经济中的主要问题。绝大多数人不是股东。他们称这项法案是为了建设大型社会安全网。法案应该为没有保险者提供更多支持，这点刚刚你有提到，还要对需要抚养孩子的家庭、失业人群、无家可归者以及努力挣钱的人提供更多支持。

You know, unemployment is improving, but the jobless rate is still nearly double what it was before the pandemic. And the number of long-term unemployed people is still up by 3 million this year. And that's all according to the official Bureau of Labor¹⁰ Statistics. There's also money in here for institutions like museums that have been shuttered or have seen revenue declines that threaten their ability to reopen when vaccines are out and distributed and people are going back in. And Democrats say this bill is about the whole system.

失业率正在改善，但目前的失业率仍是疫情前的近一倍。而长期失业人口今年依然增加了300万。这来源于美国劳工统计局提供的官方数据。法案中还包括用于博物馆等机构的资金，这些机构已经关闭，或者收入下降，而当疫苗被分发出去，人们再度访问时，这些机构的重新开放能力会受到威胁。民主党人表示，这项法案关乎整个系统。

KELLY: Yeah. I will note that Americans, a lot of Americans seem to be on board with this legislation. Polls show fairly widespread support for it, which is something Democrats like to point to. Are there potential political downsides here, though, for Democrats?

凯利：好。我注意到，很多美国人似乎都支持这项立法。民调显示，该法案得到的民众支持相当广泛，这是民主党人喜欢提到的事情。然而，对于民主党人来说，是否存在潜在的政治不利因素？

SNELL: Well, Democrats say the Republicans will pay the price for lining¹¹ up against something that is at this moment so popular. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pointed¹² out that people who will benefit from this bill don't just vote for Democrats. And she says Republicans are voting against something they'll take advantage of later.

斯奈尔：民主党人称共和党人会为反对目前如此流行的东西付出代价。众议院议长南希·佩洛西指出，这项法案的受益者不仅仅是投票支持民主党的人。她表示，共和党人投票反对的是他们之后会获益的法案。

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NANCY PELOSI: It's typical that they vote no and take the dough¹³. And this bill has bipartisan support across the country.

南希·佩洛西：他们通常投反对票，然后拿钱。这项法案在全国得到了两党的支持。

SNELL: You hear her there speaking through a mask on the House floor. But, you know, a lot depends on how this is administered. Will it go out slowly? Do schools actually reopen? Do bad actors get money? And does the economy actually improve with this infusion¹⁴ of cash? And that's all a risk.

斯奈尔：刚才大家听到的是佩洛西在众议院戴着口罩发表的讲话。但是，这在很大程度上取决于如何管理。法案是否会逐渐不受欢迎？学校真的重新开学了吗？不良行为者会得到补贴吗？经济是否真的随着资金的注入而改善？这都是风险所在。

KELLY: Are we done? Is this the last time we're going to see Congress voting on COVID relief?

凯利：结束了吗？这是我们最后一次看到国会投票表决新冠肺炎救济法案吗？

SNELL: We don't know for sure. There — at some point in time, there is a chance they'll do an infrastructure¹⁵ bill. And some are framing that as COVID relief in its own right because it would be compared to work incentive¹⁶ programs in the New Deal that got people back to work. It really depends on whether projections¹⁷ about vaccine⁶ distribution and efficacy bear out.

斯奈尔：我们还不能确定。他们可能会在某个时刻提出一项基础设施法案。一些人认为这本身就相当于新冠肺炎救济计划，因为这与新政中让人们重返工作岗位的工作激励计划差不多。这实际上取决于有关疫苗分布和效力的预测是否得到证实。

KELLY: Thank you, Kelsey.

凯利：谢谢你，凯尔西。

SNELL: Thanks for having me.

斯奈尔：谢谢你们邀请我。

KELLY: NPR's Kelsey Snell.

凯利：以上是NPR新闻的凯尔西·斯奈尔带来的报道。

1 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

2 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

3 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

4 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

7 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

8 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》

9 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

12 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

13 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。

14 infusion   

n.灌输

参考例句：

• Old families need an infusion of new blood from time to time.古老的家族需要不时地注入新鲜血液。
• Careful observation of the infusion site is necessary.必须仔细观察输液部位。

15 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

16 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

17 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。