2006年VOA标准英语-Former US Congressional Leaders Urge Reform

By Jim Malone
Washington
19 July 2006
 
Much has been made over President Bush's low public approval ratings for most of the past year. But opinion polls indicate that the American public holds Congress in low regard as well.

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A recent poll by the Associated Press found President Bush's public approval rating at 36 percent.

 
Visitors look at the floor of the Senate Chambers¹ of the Washington State Capitol from one of two public galleries overlooking the Senate
  
But only 27 percent of those surveyed approved of the way Congress is doing its job. 

Norman Ornstein is a longtime observer of Congress at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

"But flatly, in the 36 plus years that we have been here, we have never seen it this bad," said Ornstein. "The institution is broken at this point and needs enormous changes to bring it back to where it should be and needs to be if we are going to make our constitutional system work."

The polls suggest many Americans see Congress as inefficient², paralyzed by partisanship⁴ and consumed with political fundraising to ensure their incumbency⁵.

Opposition⁶ Democrats⁷ hope to exploit the negative public view of the Republican-controlled Congress to make gains in the November midterm congressional election.

But Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway warns that the public cynicism about Congress extends to both parties.

"This feeling of anti-incumbency is not just anti-Republican anti-incumbency or anti-Bush, it is really anti-Washington," she noted⁸. "It has to do with lobbyists, it has to do with fundraisers, it probably has to do with pollsters, I hate to say."
 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich  
  
Among those urging changes in the way Congress conducts itself is former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

"The failure to do effective, aggressive oversight⁹ disserves the country and disserves the president because it means you are cutting off a major feedback loop that says, it is not working," commented Gingrich.

Gingrich says the founders¹⁰ of the American republic saw Congress as the most important of the three branches of government, acting¹¹ as a check on the president along with the judicial¹² system.

Thomas Mann is a long time political scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He says the current Congress has ceded¹³ too much power to the executive branch.

"The key is for each branch to push back when it feels as if the other is exceeding its constitutional authority, and we have had no pushback. And I think as a country, we have suffered as a consequence," he said.

Mann has co-authored a book with Norman Ornstein called, "The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track."

One reason for the public's disillusionment with Congress is the fierce partisanship that has characterized congressional debates for the past decade.

"There is such a partisan³ tone up here that everybody gets caught in it and it is very difficult for people to break out of it," said former Republican Congressman¹⁴ John Kasich, who was a recent guest on VOA's Press Conference USA program. "I don't think it is impossible to break out of it. I broke out of it when I was here. And look, the best part of politics is when you are fighting over ideas. The worst part of politics is when you are fighting over power, and we are too interested in fighting over power."

Some political centrists argue the time is right to present an alternative to voters. Hamilton Jordan served as chief of staff to former President Jimmy Carter.

Jordan is part of an effort to draft a bipartisan presidential ticket through the Internet for the 2008 presidential election.

"We are going after the large number of people in the middle who, like me, have kind of sat back and not particularly cared for the choices they have had in some of the recent national elections and that think they can do better," he said.

Democrats believe the 2006 congressional elections are their best chance to retake one or both chambers of Congress since Republicans took control in 1994.

Former Democratic House Speaker Tom Foley is urging his party not to try and exact political retribution should Democrats win in November.

"Democrats [should] clearly and intensely [promise] that if they take the majority back again, they will not go back and try to pay back, so to speak, what they felt were the excesses and even the outrages¹⁵ of this period," said Foley. "But will promise minority rights in reaching those majority decisions."

Former House speakers Foley and Newt Gingrich were once bitter political foes¹⁶.

But during a recent forum¹⁷ in Washington, the two men found common ground in urging Congress to reform itself, de-emphasize fundraising and do a better job of acting as a check on the executive branch.

1 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

2 inefficient   

adj.效率低的，无效的

参考例句：

• The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
• Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。

3 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

4 Partisanship   

n. 党派性, 党派偏见

参考例句：

• Her violent partisanship was fighting Soames's battle. 她的激烈偏袒等于替索米斯卖气力。
• There was a link of understanding between them, more important than affection or partisanship. ' 比起人间的感情，比起相同的政见，这一点都来得格外重要。 来自英汉文学

5 incumbency   

n.职责，义务

参考例句：

• Every incumbency employee has his year-end bonus.所有的在职员工都可以领到年终奖金。
• Administrator ethic includes administrative incumbency and administrative conscience.行政人员伦理包括行政义务和行政良知。

6 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。

7 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》

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

10 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

13 ceded   

v.让给，割让，放弃( cede的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Cuba was ceded by Spain to the US in 1898. 古巴在1898年被西班牙割让给美国。
• A third of the territory was ceded to France. 领土的三分之一割让给了法国。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

15 outrages   

引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• People are seeking retribution for the latest terrorist outrages. 人们在设法对恐怖分子最近的暴行进行严惩。
• He [She] is not allowed to commit any outrages. 不能任其胡作非为。

16 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

17 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。