VOA标准英语2009年-Obama Administration Defends Budget, Economic P

In appearances before Congress on Tuesday, Obama administration officials have defended the president's budget and economic recovery plans. Testimony¹ by President Barack Obama's Budget Director, Peter Orszag, and Treasury² Secretary Timothy Geithner came as lawmakers began examining the $3.6-trillion 2010 budget outline proposed by the White House.
　
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner

Appearing before two committees in the House of Representatives, Orszag and Geithner called President Obama's budget an honest and candid³ depiction⁴ of where the U.S. economy stands and what must be done to start repairing it.

Saying the United States has no choice but to change course from past policies, Orszag told the House Budget Committee that the White House proposal is a starting point for reorienting the nation's long-term economic efficiency and productivity.
　
President Barack Obama, accompanied by Budget Director Peter Orszag (R), and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, speaks about 2010 federal budget, 26 Feb 2009

"We have lived through an era of irresponsibility in which we have failed to address deep problems in energy, education and health care, and in which the primary theory of the case was that the only determinant of economic performance was the marginal tax rate on the wealthy and that the way to promote market competition was to channel significant subsidies⁵ to corporations," he said.

Orszag said President Obama inherited a pair of trillion dollar deficits⁷ - one being the difference between current U.S. economic output and what the country could be producing, the other being the amount of deficit⁶ spending he says is needed now for recovery.

Contrary to what critics assert, Orszag said, the proposed budget is not just a big spending plan that comes in the wake of a $787 billion stimulus⁸ bill Congress approved. He said that the government faces the combined pressures of a weak economy driving down revenue and the need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to stabilize⁹ financial markets.

"All in, the budget includes $2.7 trillion in costs over the next decade that would have been excluded from previous [Bush administration] budgets. That sets a high bar [goal], but it is an honest bar," he said.

Republicans such as Representative Paul Ryan repeated their assertions that President Obama is trying to force through a huge and costly¹⁰ expansion of government. "This is not changing the tone of Washington or forging a compromise. This is staking out an ideological¹¹ conquest," he said.

House Budget Committee Chairman, Democrat¹² John Spratt said that facing the stark¹³ economic realities left by the Bush administration, President Obama is trying to address important needs while aiming to bring shrink the deficit in coming years.

"[The budget] takes on topics indeed that have been ignored by earlier budgets as too tough to tackle: climate change, health care for the 46 million [Americans] who are uninsured," he said.

In separate testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said there is no alternative to forceful action to slow the recession and get credit moving again, including steps to strengthen the banking¹⁴ system.

"Part of that requires that we make sure banks are strong enough, that they can provide credit. And that is what our plan is going to do, and we will do that with the necessary force and speed because again, the alternative is to live with a situation where the financial system continues to be more defensive¹⁵ over time and that will leave businesses and families without the credit they need to do what they want to do," he said.

Geithner said he shares concerns of lawmakers that the stock market has not reacted positively¹⁶ to actions taken so far by the Obama administration.

Responding to Republican criticisms, Geithner said there is no alternative to restoring confidence in the U.S. financial system at home and abroad. "The alternative path for us, which is to sit back [and] hope that this crisis burns itself out, would mean a much deeper recession with much greater damage to American businesses and families, with much greater physical damage to our economy, leaving us with much greater deficits in the future. And the judgment¹⁷ we are making, and it is absolutely the right judgment, is that as a country, given where we started, we have no choice but to move aggressively on these fronts," he said.

In remarks at the U.S. Transportation Department, President Obama said America's economic performance in the first quarter of this year is not likely to improve over the dismal¹⁸ results in the closing months of last year.

And the president again identified the weak credit environment as one of the main challenges facing the economy. "We have to jump-start the credit markets and get private lending going again," he said.

Also testifying on Capitol Hill on Tuesday was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who told the Senate Banking Committee that President Obama's $787 billion government spending and tax cut plan should help the economy.

Bernanke also said that the overall impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act remains¹⁹ subject to "considerable uncertainty," adding that real recovery depends on the government's ability to stabilize financial markets.

1 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

2 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

3 candid   

adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的

参考例句：

• I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance for it.我只有希望公正的读者多少包涵一些。
• He is quite candid with his friends.他对朋友相当坦诚。

4 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

5 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

8 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。

9 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

10 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

11 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

12 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。

13 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

14 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

15 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

16 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

17 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

18 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

19 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。