纽约时报 特朗普决定废除《平价医疗法案》 民主党人陷入混乱(2)（在线收听）

A judge in Texas agreed and invalidated the entire law,

德克萨斯州一名法官也同意这一说法，还废除了有关《平价医疗法案》的所有规定，

including its expansion of Medicaid and subsidies to help many low- and middle-income people buy insurance.

包括为帮助许多中低收入人群购买保险而扩充的医疗补助和补贴。

The Justice Department initially said that only parts of the law, including its protections for pre-existing conditions, should be struck down.

司法部最初表示只有部分条款需要废除，保护已存在伤病人群的条款也包括在内。

But on Monday, it expanded its attack to say the whole law should be invalidated.

然而，周一时，他们扩大了攻击的范围，称整套法律都应该废除。

The Justice Department's move caught both parties by surprise, and put Republicans in a very awkward position.

司法部的举动不仅打了民主党一个措手不及，也打了共和党一个措手不及，还将共和党人置于了一个非常尴尬的境地。

"Not only is this a poor political move,

他们的这一决定不仅在政治上是一次蹩脚的举措，

this decision hurts real people who will unfairly lose their health insurance coverage as a result,

还伤害了那些将因此遭受不公，失去医疗保险保护的人，”

said Representative Tom Reed, Republican of New York.

纽约州共和党众议员汤姆·里德说。

"We need to work to find ways to fix our health care system — not blow it up."

“我们需要的是想办法整改我们的医疗体系，而不是把它搞砸。”

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican leader, at first said,

众议院共和党领袖、加州众议员凯文·麦卡锡起初表示，

"I haven't read through what they — was it last night?"

“我还没有看完他们拟定的——是昨天晚上拟的吗?”

He then added, "I think the president has always been very clear that he wanted to repeal Obamacare,

之后他又补充道，“在我看来，总统一直都是非常明确地要废除奥巴马医改，

and to put a system in that actually lowers the cost and protects individuals' pre-existing conditions."

重新建立一个能够真正降低医疗成本，保护已存在伤病人群利益的医疗体系的。”

Other Republicans were more pointed.

其他共和党人的回应比汤姆·里德还要尖锐。

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, whose vote helped sink the 2017 repeal effort and who is up for re-election in 2020,

缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯，2017年时，挫败废除该法案的努力就有她的功劳，2020年她还将竞选连任，

pronounced herself "very disappointed," with the Justice Department's position.

就表示，她对司法部的行为“非常失望”。

"I thought it was bad enough when last year they wouldn't defend parts of the law,

“去年，他们不肯为该法律的部分条款——包括保护已存在伤病人群的条款——

including the parts protecting people with pre-existing conditions," Ms.Collins said."

辩护时，我觉得就已经很过分了，”柯林斯女士说，

This goes far beyond that and I think was a huge mistake."

（没想到他们）这次的举措比上次还要过分得多，这是极其错误的。”

But Mr. Trump wholeheartedly embraced the new position on Tuesday,

但无论是从推特还是从国会大厦的情况来看，

both on Twitter and in the Capitol, shortly before joining Senate Republicans at a closed-door luncheon.

特朗普都在周二即将参加和参议院共和党人的非公开午宴之际欣然接受了这一新立场，

"The Republican Party will soon become the party of health care,"

“共和党将很快就会成为一个医疗保健党，”

he told a throng of reporters and photographers, echoing what he had already written on social media.

他对一群记者和摄影师说到，此举也印证了他之前在社交媒体上发布的消息。

The president used the closed-door meeting in the Capitol for a rambling, unscripted recitation of his legislative priorities,

他还把国会大厦的这次非公开会议变成了他漫无边际地即兴背诵他在立法方面的当务之急的地方，

and repeated his intention to make the subject of health care a major issue over the next two years.

以及重申他把医疗保健问题作为未来两年的一个主要议题的打算的地方。

That pronouncement elicited a muted response, according to a person in the room.

据一位在场人士透露，面对特朗普的这一举措，议员们纷纷陷入了沉默。

After the luncheon, Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and chairman of the Senate health committee,

午宴结束后，田纳西州共和党参议员、参议院卫生委员会主席拉马尔·亚历山大，

echoed Mr. Trump's message: "We have to become more the party of health care."

附和了特朗普的话：“我们必须往医疗保健党的方向靠拢。”