VOA常速英语2008年-US House Approves Intelligence Measure Over Bus

By Dan Robinson
Capitol Hill
14 March 2008

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a Democrat-crafted foreign intelligence surveillance law that contains provisions strongly opposed by President Bush. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill.

Republicans had hoped that consideration of the bill in a rare secret session would give Democrats¹ the opportunity to vote against their leadership and approve a version of the bill that was supported by President Bush.

But by a vote of 213 to 197, the House approved a version of the legislation that would require more judicial² supervision³ of electronic surveillance. The House measure also does not provide retroactive immunity⁴ for telecommunications companies facing lawsuits⁵ stemming from their cooperation with the once-secret anti-terrorist eavesdropping⁶ program.

The immunity provision was strongly advocated by President Bush, who has threatened to veto the House bill, which still needs to go back to the Senate for approval there.

Republicans had been urging Democrats to vote on a version that was already passed by the Senate with a large bipartisan margin⁸ and contained a provision for immunity for telecommunications companies. Republicans say Democratic actions have endangered America's security.

"This is now the 27th day that we have denied our intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials the tools they need to keep us safe," said Adam Putnam, chairman of the House Republican Conference.

While denying retroactive immunity to companies that helped the government in the wake of the September 11, 2001 al-Qaida attacks, the measure would authorize⁹ immunity for future cooperation, and provide greater latitude¹⁰ for companies to defend themselves in court.

The Democratic measure also states again that a special court created under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), remains¹¹ the exclusive authority for electronic surveillance.

Representative Jerrold Nadler was among those rejecting Republican assertions that Americans would be at greater risk under the legislation, arguing that the measure guards against violations¹² of civil liberties:

"While we are giving the intelligence community the tools they need to wiretap on American citizens [or] on people who are not American citizens, we have to make sure that our constitutional rights and liberties are protected so that this country which we have all defended and we all want to defend remains worthy¹³ of being defended by defending our own liberties," he said.

President Bush used strong language on Thursday in rejecting the House Democrat's measure before it even passed.

"Their partisan⁷ legislation would extend protections we enjoy as Americans to foreign terrorists overseas," he said. "It would cause us to lose vital intelligence on terrorist threats and that is a risk that our country cannot afford to take."

On Friday, House speaker Nancy Pelosi repeated her rejection¹⁴ of the president's arguments.

The president has said that our legislation will not make America safe," she said. "The president is wrong, and I think he knows it.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell had reiterated¹⁵ objections to the measure, suggesting that if Congress passed it, U.S. counter-terrorist surveillance capabilities¹⁶ would be effectively shut down.

Democrats maintained that authorities under existing law remain in place, with Pelosi saying on Friday that principles suggested by McConnell himself early in the debate over revising U.S. surveillance law are contained in the Democratic measure.

With lawmakers leaving for a two-week recess¹⁷, and House Democratic leader's refusal to take up the Senate-passed bill, there will be no further action on the matter until lawmakers return to work next month.

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 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。

3 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

4 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

5 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

6 eavesdropping   

n. 偷听

参考例句：

• We caught him eavesdropping outside the window. 我们撞见他正在窗外偷听。
• Suddenly the kids,who had been eavesdropping,flew into the room. 突然间，一直在偷听的孩子们飞进屋来。

7 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。

8 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

9 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

10 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

13 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

14 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

15 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

16 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

17 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。