PBS高端访谈:美参议院共和党人公布新医改法草案

 　　The battle lines are forming tonight in the Senate over replacing Obamacare.

　　Republican leaders released details of their bill today, but Democrats¹ are rejecting it outright², and some in the GOP are not happy either.

　　Lisa Desjardins begins our coverage³.

　　It's time to act, because Obamacare is a direct attack on the middle class, and American families deserve better than its failing status quo.

　　After weeks of work behind closed doors, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the Senate Republican bill public this morning.

　　It shares some broad strokes with the bill that House Republicans passed in may. It would cut Medicaid overall and impose annual limits on spending.

　　It also repeals⁵ the individual mandate⁶ penalty under Obamacare, and it would end most of the taxes that paid for the Affordable⁷ Care Act.

　　The bill lets states waive⁸ required coverage of essential health benefits. That's things like mental health and hospital care.

　　And it blocks federal funds to Planned Parenthood for one year and for health plans that cover most abortions⁹.

　　Democrats unanimously oppose the measure. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer:

　　Simply put, this bill will result in higher costs, less care, and millions of Americans will lose their health insurance, particularly through Medicaid.

　　It's every bit as bad as the House bill. In some ways, it's even worse.

　　House Speaker Paul Ryan welcomed the Senate's action, without getting into the details.

　　I know how hard this is to pass a bill like this. What was helpful to us, that we didn't have Senate leadership playing armchair quarterback with us.

　　The last thing I want to do is play armchair quarterback with them.

　　The Senate did break with the House on a few issues. The Senate bill would phase out the expansion of Medicaid, but more slowly than the House, ending it by 2024.

　　But, starting in 2025, the Senate would cut all of Medicaid more deeply than the House.

　　The Senate plan also keeps protections for people with preexisting conditions, while the House bill would let states waive those.

　　And the Senate bill continues Obamacare subsidies¹⁰, but limits them to a smaller group of lower-income people.

　　Schumer says, taken as a whole, the changes mean any benefits are in name only.

　　The Senate Republican health care bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Only, this Wolf has even sharper teeth than the House bill.

　　Disability advocates and others protested today outside Majority Leader McConnell's office. Capitol Police arrested a number of them.

　　Republican leaders argued that opponents need to look at the actual text before criticizing.

　　They can read the bill. If they have objections to the provisions, we can debate them.

　　But what they're talking about is a bill that doesn't exist which they had not read.

　　At the White House, President Trump¹¹ voiced support and stressed this is not a final draft.

　　Obamacare is a disaster. It's dead, totally dead. And we're putting a plan today that's going to be negotiated.

　　Those negotiations¹² started instantly. Republicans can afford for just two of their members to vote no.

　　And, today, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and three other Republicans said they oppose it as written.

　　And I believe the leverage¹³ on account of four people is enough that hopefully those who wrote the bill would say we want some or all of their votes,

　　and, therefore, we will try to make the bill look more like a repeal⁴ bill and less like a reiteration¹⁴ of Obamacare bill.

　　The Congressional Budget Office says it will have its analysis of the bill by early next week. McConnell is pushing for a vote two or three days after that.

　　Lisa will be back to help us analyze¹⁵ the political prospects¹⁶ for the Senate Republican health care bill after the news summary. undefined

1 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》

2 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

3 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。

4 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

5 repeals   

撤销，废除( repeal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The measure repeals a previous law that prevented local governments from targeting specific breeds for sterilization. 这项法令的出台将废止之前一项限制地方政府针对某种犬类采用绝育措施的法律。

6 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

7 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

8 waive   

vt.放弃，不坚持(规定、要求、权力等)

参考例句：

• I'll record to our habitat office waive our claim immediately.我立即写信给咱们的总公司提出放弃索赔。
• In view of the unusual circumstances,they agree to waive their requirement.鉴于特殊情况，他们同意放弃他们的要求。

9 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

10 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 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。

13 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

14 reiteration   

n. 重覆, 反覆, 重说

参考例句：

• The reiteration of this figure, more than anything else, wrecked the conservative chance of coming back. 重申这数字，比其它任何事情更能打消保守党重新上台的机会。
• The final statement is just a reiteration of U.S. policy on Taiwan. 艾瑞里？最后一个声明只是重复宣读美国对台政策。

15 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

16 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。