VOA慢速英语2013 Immigration, Health Care Could Divide Republicans

 

Immigration, Health Care Could Divide Republicans

Welcome again to As It Is from VOA Learning English.  I’m Mario Ritter.

Here in Washington, the U.S. Congress is not in session.  That means lawmakers are not meeting for business.  So it is a good time to consider the debate over reform that has been taking place in the nation’s capital in recent months.

“Wasting the country’s time by taking something like 40 meaningless votes . . .”

“We are not just making noise.”

Today on our program, we talk with VOA’s national correspondent about two reform issues that have the country’s major political parties -- the Democrats¹ and Republicans -- locked in heated debate.  We also explore why this is causing division in the Republican Party.

Reform Issues May Divide Republicans

Political differences are nothing new to Washington and neither are public opinion studies.  Recent surveys suggest that a large majority of Americans disapprove² of the job that Congress is doing.  A recent Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll shows that Congress has an 83 percent disapproval³ rate.

Democrats and Republicans have been struggling to find common ground on several very important issues.  The Republicans control the House of Representatives, while the Democrats hold the Senate.  The result is that many bills cannot pass both houses of Congress.

The Democrats are led by President Barack Obama.  He has been speaking out against what he calls Republican inaction.

“Wasting the country’s time by taking something like 40 meaningless votes to repeal⁴ Obamacare is not a jobs plan!”

The Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, has fought back.

“We are not just here making noise.  The House Republicans are continuing to take action.”

Lawmakers have not reached agreement on the federal budget or on spending issues like sequestration, a process that requires sharp spending cuts across the national government.

And reforming government seems to have divided lawmakers.  Health care and immigration reform efforts have slowed or face strong opposition⁵.

Today, we talk with VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone about immigration and health care reform.  Welcome, Jim.

Thank You.

Now we have talked, a little bit earlier, about the immigration issue. Can you explain how immigration is causing stress to the Republicans, especially in regard to their position?

You have one group of Republicans who believe that unless they support some version of immigration reform, the party could become extinct in a few years.

The 2012 election showed that minority voters overwhelmingly supported the Democrats and President Obama.  So this is a source of concern for a number of moderate and, what I would call, establishment Republicans, who want to find a way to Hispanics, to African Americans and to Asian American voters -- the fastest growing group in the United States.

But on the other side of this are conservative members of Congress, especially in the House of Representatives, where Republicans have the majority, who do not favor the kind of sweeping⁶ immigration reform that some Republican moderates and many Democrats prefer.  These conservative Republicans believe that giving those who came into the country illegally a path to citizenship⁷ amounts to an amnesty.  And they oppose that.

And the question is:  How will they come to some sort of compromise that satisfies the conservative concerts about illegal immigration and border security, and still puts a new face on the Republican Party of openness to minority voters?   

Jim, you’re working on another reform issue which is health care.  Now we have health care legislation in place and the changes are sort of staggered over several years.  However, there has been a push to possibly defund some of the provision of what people call “Obamacare,” the health care reform legislation.  What are the prospects⁸ of that?

This is shaping up to me as a fascinating battle.  And it’s important it will go to the strength of the Republican Party -- whether it’s a viable⁹ party in the near future in our elections and what will happen to President Obama’s signature achievement of his term so far, which is health care reform.  As you mentioned, the law has been passed by Congress; the main implementation¹⁰ of the law will occur in 2014.  And Congress must begin to consider that as they fund the government for the next year. 

And there’s a very strong effort underway by a number of conservative Republicans who remain very disappointed the law was passed by Congress in the first place and would like to find a way to undo¹¹ it.  Their strategy is to try to force the administration’s hand by holding Obamacare, as it’s called, the health care law, hostage.  They want to defund the law as part of any agreement to continue to fund the government past September 30, when the funding authority expires.

This is very much a political issue. And it’s not just Republicans who favor defunding versus¹² Democrats who would oppose it because they support the law.  But there is a real split among Republicans as to whether this is the right way to proceed.

Jim Malone VOA’s National Correspondent, thank you very much.

Thank you.   

On This Date…

On this date in 1782, George Washington ordered the creation of a Badge of Military Merit in Newburgh, New York. The badge was made in the shape of a purple heart with a silver edge. The award gives recognition to soldiers injured in action. Only three are known to have been given during the Revolutionary War.  The award was not officially reestablished until February 22, 1932 on what would have been George Washington’s 200th birthday.

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 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

3 disapproval   

n.反对，不赞成

参考例句：

• The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
• They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。

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 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

7 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

8 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。

9 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

10 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

11 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

12 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。