2006年VOA标准英语-Senate Votes on Immigration Policy

By Leta Hong Fincher
Washington, D.C.
17 May 2006
 
watch Immigration report

The U.S. Senate has rejected a proposal to secure the nation's borders before tackling other immigration issues, such as ensuring a path to citizenship¹ for undocumented workers.

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U.S. Senate   
  

The U.S. Senate Tuesday cast preliminary votes on immigration legislation in what is likely to be a prolonged debate over how to treat millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.

Lawmakers defeated a proposal by Republican Party Senator Johnny Isakson requiring that border security be put in place before starting any program to help undocumented workers change their status.

The Senate also endorsed² a proposal saying that changes in immigration policy can proceed if the president declares that they are in the interests of U.S. national security. The votes dealt President Bush an initial victory one day after he addressed the nation to urge a comprehensive approach to immigration.

An immigrant captured after illegally crossing the US border with Mexico   
  
At a news conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Mr. Bush renewed his call for the U.S. Congress to increase border security, while introducing a guest-worker program to appeal to immigrants.

"The objective is, on the one hand, protect our borders, and on the other hand, never lose sight of the thing that makes America unique, which is, we're a land of immigrants and that we're not going to discriminate³ against people," said the president.

Mr. Bush said that his plan to send 6,000 National Guard troops to U.S. states along the Mexican border should not be seen as an effort to "militarize" the border. But reactions to Mr. Bush's proposal have been mixed and often emotional.

Senator Kennedy   
  
Democratic Party Senator Edward Kennedy (of the northern state of Massachusetts) decried⁴ the amount of money spent on increasing border patrols over the past two decades, only to result in an increase of illegal immigrants.

"Twenty years ago we had 40,000 people coming in here illegally. Ten years ago it was 400,000. And you know what we did? We spent $20 billion dollars between, the last 10 years. We increased border guards by 300 percent. And guess what? We have doubled the numbers, to 800,000 today."

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an immigration bill that would make it a crime to be in the United States illegally. The Senate's legislation is expected be more accommodating to immigrants, and the two houses will have to reconcile their positions on that issue, among others.

1 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。

2 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

4 decried   

v.公开反对，谴责( decry的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The measures were decried as useless. 这些措施受到指责，说是不起作用。
• The old poet decried the mediocrity of today's writing. 老诗人抨击了现代文体的平庸无奇。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》