VOA标准英语2009年-US Lawmakers React to Obama Speech

Republicans and Democrats² in Congress are reacting to President Barack Obama's speech, in which he warned Americans that the economy faces a "dire³ day of reckoning," but one the country can recover from.
　
President Barack Obama addresses a joint⁴ session of Congress in the House Chamber⁵ of the Capitol in Washington, 24 Feb 2009

Democrats reacted enthusiastically to the president's speech, praising both the messages President Obama tried to send to Americans and the oratory⁷ skills he employed in his first address to Congress.

In a VOA interview, Representative Neal Abercrombie from Hawaii had this reaction.

"He reaches the world, really," said Abercrombie. "His sense of confidence and his ability to take that sense of confidence and extend it to his listening audience is second [to] or probably commensurate [equal] to that of President [Franklin] Roosevelt."

Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat¹, says President Obama recognized the economic crisis Americans face and laid out steps he has taken and will take to deal with it.

Nadler also reacted to the president's statement that the United States will not employ torture in interrogations of suspected terrorists.

"It's a terrible comment, and it's pathetic, that we are in a situation where he had to say that. At the same [time] I am certainly glad he said that," Nadler said. "We do not torture, and we are going to have to take various measures which I hope that this administration will join with us in Congress to take steps to make sure that no future president no future administration can do some of the things that unfortunately it is all too clear happened during the last administration."

House Republicans largely repeated opposition⁸ criticisms of President Obama's economic stimulus⁹ plans and assertions that the president and majority Democrats intend to sharply expand government.

Jeff Flake¹⁰, a Republican from Arizona, told VOA the president is "a great orator⁶", but he had this response to the economic points in President Obama's speech.

"It was an optimistic speech and there were some good lines about fiscal¹¹ responsibility," said Flake. "Unfortunately there was a lot of indication that we are going to be spending a lot of money, I'm not sure to what effect."

"The president's comments on spending seem to me to be very much at odds¹² with the huge spending bill last week, almost increasing by 80 percent the discretionary spending of the federal government," said Congressman¹³ Roy Blunt, the former House Republican whip.

Lawmakers are preparing to receive President Obama's budget which arrives on Capitol Hill, Thursday.

The arrival of a president's budget always sparks partisan¹⁴ political battles about spending priorities.

Democratic Congressman Jim Moran spoke¹⁵ about the president's challenge to Democrats and Republicans to work together.

"He is a president deserving of these times. We are lucky to have him, but there is some real question in my mind as to whether the Congress is going to be deserving of his leadership," said Moran. "We're going to have to get our act together - particularly the Republican party. They need to do something more than just say "no" to everything he proposes."

President Obama's commitment in his speech to cutting wasteful¹⁶ and ineffective government programs brought a positive reaction from fiscally-conservative Democrats [known as the Blue Dogs].

Members of the group praised the president for clear and honest talk about the economy, saying he demonstrated his commitment to long-term fiscal responsibility, transparency in budgeting and cutting the federal deficit¹⁷.

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 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》

3 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

6 orator   

n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家

参考例句：

• He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。
• The orator gestured vigorously while speaking.这位演讲者讲话时用力地做手势。

7 oratory   

n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞

参考例句：

• I admire the oratory of some politicians.我佩服某些政治家的辩才。
• He dazzled the crowd with his oratory.他的雄辩口才使听众赞叹不已。

8 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。

9 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

10 flake   

v.使成薄片；雪片般落下；n.薄片

参考例句：

• Drain the salmon,discard the skin,crush the bones and flake the salmon with a fork.将鲑鱼沥干，去表皮，粉碎鱼骨并用餐叉子将鱼肉切成小薄片状。
• The paint's beginning to flake.油漆开始剥落了。

11 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

12 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

13 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。

14 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。

15 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

16 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

17 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。