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155 美国国会讨论改革竞选捐款提议
US Congress Debates Campaign Finance Reform
Jim Malone
Washington
12 Jul 2001 02:15 UTC
Supporters of changing the way U.S. political campaigns are financed face their most important challenge to date in Congress this week. The 1)House of Representatives is scheduled to choose Thursday between competing reform proposals that would place new limits on 2)contributions to political parties.
Reform advocates want to ban what are known as soft-money contributions to political parties from labor unions, corporations, and wealthy individuals. 3)Critics say the soft money 4)donations have 5)undermined the public's faith in the democratic process.
In the 1988 presidential election cycle, soft money donations totaled $45 million. In last year's presidential election, that figure rose to $500 million. Direct contributions to political candidates, known as hard money, are already heavily 6)regulated.
Republican Congressman Christopher Shays of Connecticut is one of the leaders of the reform effort. "All of this money is coming in and drowning out the voice of individual Americans. So I hope for the good of America we can pass it," Congressman Shays said.
But opponents fear that the 7)sweeping campaign reform bill would effectively violate the free speech 8)guarantees in the Constitution by placing limits on the amount of money political parties could raise.
Republican 9)Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is one of the sharpest critics of the reform effort in Congress. "They are basically trying to make it very, very difficult for [political] parties and outside [interest groups] groups to be able to speak when it really counts in 10)proximity [near] to elections. That is 11)fundamentally un-American and I hope it will not pass," Sen. McConnell said.
The political stakes in the campaign finance debate are enormous.
Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein warns that Republican congressional leaders will get the blame if the reform effort stalls. "It is certainly the case that Americans, in general, are not going to go to the 12)barricades [get excited] over the issue of campaign reform," Mr. Ornstein says. "But they believe it is a positive thing and, as a [political] party, the last thing you want is to be in a position where it looks like you are defending the 13)indefensible. The Republican Party is dangerously close to being in a position where they are in effect defending a status quo that most Americans think is corrupt and 14)awful."
But other analysts believe the public is paying little attention to the debate because most voters are 15)convinced that lawmakers will do nothing to change a campaign funding system that helps them get re-elected.
"People are disgusted with the system of money in politics," says Thomas Mann, of the Brookings Institution, a public policy research organization in Washington. "But they think it is unlikely to change and they attach a higher 16)priority to matters whose impact they can judge more directly, personally, concretely."
While most of those who openly oppose the reform effort are Republicans, support among Democrats appears to be 17)wavering. African-American Democrats in Congress fear that the reform bill would hurt efforts to turn out black voters in congressional and presidential elections.
Some Democrats are supporting a less restrictive Republican alternative to the main reform bill that would limit, but not 18)ban, soft money contributions.
Congressional analyst Norman Ornstein says the reformers best hope for winning the battle over campaign reform lies in convincing 19)moderates from both parties to support the bill. "This is no panacea. This is not the last time we will need reform and it is not the only reform that we need," he says. "What this does is to basically put some dikes around a system that has 20)careened out of control, put some reasonable limits in place to keep the worst 21)abuses from occurring."
If the House follows the Senate in approving the sweeping reform bill, Congress will have approved the most 22)significant changes in campaign funding laws since the reforms adopted in the wake of the Watergate 23)scandal in the late 1970's.
President Bush has said he opposes an 24)outright ban on soft-money donations, but has not specifically threatened to 25)veto the bill if the House joins the Senate in passing the reform measure.
(1) House of Representatives n. （美国、新西兰、澳大利亚等国的）众议院
(2) contribution[kRn5trIbju:t]n.捐献, 贡献, 投稿
(3) critic[5krItIk]n.批评家, 评论家, 吹毛求疵者
(4) donation[dEJ5neIF(E)n]n.捐赠品, 捐款, 贡献
(5) undermine[QndE5maIn]v.破坏
(6) regulate[5re^jJleIt]vt.管制, 控制, 调节, 校准
(7) sweeping[5swi:pIN]adj.扫荡的, 彻底的, 广泛的, 规模大的
(8) guarantee[^ArEn5ti:]n.保证, 保证书, 担保, 抵押品vt.保证, 担保
(9) senator[5senEtE(r)]n.参议员, (大学的)评议员
(10) proximity[prRk5sImItI]n.接近, 亲近
(11) fundamentally[fQndE5mentElI]adv.基础地, 根本地
(12) barricade[bArI5keId]v.设路障n.路障
(13) indefensible[IndI5fensIb(E)l]adj.不能防卫的, 无辩护余地的
(14) awful[5C:fJl]adj.可怕的, 威严的, 糟糕的
(15) convinced[ kEn`vInst ]adj.确信的, 深信的
(16) priority[praI5RrItI; (?@) -C:r-]n.先, 前, 优先, 优先权
(17) waver[5weIvE(r)]n.动摇, 开始退让vi.摇摆, 颤抖,犹豫
(18) ban[bAn]n.禁令vt.禁止, 取缔(书刊等)
(19) moderate[5mRdErEt]adj.中等的, 适度的, 适中的v.缓和
(20) careen[kE5ri:n]vt.倾斜, 倾,使倾侧n.船的倾侧
(21) abuse[E5bju:s]n. v.滥用, 虐待, 辱骂
(22) significant[sI^5nIfEkEnt]adj.有意义的, 重大的, 重要的
(23) scandal[5skAnd(E)l]n.丑行,丑闻,诽谤
(24) outright[5aJtraIt]adj.直率的, 彻底的, 完全的adv.直率地, 痛快地
(25) veto[5vi:tEJ]n.否决, 禁止, 否决权vt.否决, 禁止
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