VOA标准英语2010年-Obama Continues Push for Health Care R

President Barack Obama traveled to St. Louis, Missouri on Wednesday, continuing his outreach to Americans to support approval by the U.S. Congress of legislation to reform the U.S. health care system. The president is intensifying¹ his efforts to ensure support from Democratic lawmakers for legislation he hopes at least one chamber³ of Congress will approve before he departs on an overseas trip next week:

The president has used appearances in St. Louis, and earlier this week in Philadelphia, to appeal for public support in advance of a hoped for vote in the House of Representatives, a crucial step in the final stage of his push for a health care bill.

The strategy includes an effort to draw attention to recent rate increases imposed on Americans by major health insurance companies, and the impact this has had on people the president has heard from directly in letters he reads each day.

At St. Charles High School in St. Louis, delivering his 52nd speech on health care since taking office early last year, the president again took aim at Republican calls to scrap⁴ the current legislative⁵ effort, and those he said favor giving the insurance industry even more power than it has now.

"There are those who believe that the answer is to simply unleash⁶ the insurance industry and provide less oversight⁷ and fewer rules and that somehow that is going to drive down prices for everybody.  This is called putting the foxes in charge of the hen house approach to health care reform," he said.

White House officials are sticking to a prediction they say is based on conversations with congressional Democratic leaders, that a vote in the House of Representatives can be achieved before the president's scheduled departure March 18 on a trip to Guam, Indonesia and Australia. "Their information suggests that that vote can happen before we leave," said Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs.

But recent statements by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer have led some political observers to suggest that the White House and congressional Democrats⁸ may not be operating on the same timeline.

Gibbs said the White House is confident that at minimum a vote in the House can happen before the president leaves on his trip.

President Obama faces united Republican opposition⁹ to his health care reform plan, which would expand coverage¹⁰ to some 30 million more Americans, and take steps such as ending insurance company practices of denying coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

He told his audience in St. Louis that accepting the status quo is unacceptable. "Now is the time, now is the moment, now is the time for us to lead for the next generation and generations to come, a stronger and more prosperous country, we are not backing down, we not quitting, and we are going to get this done," he said.

As the president continued his cross-country appeals on health care reform, partisan¹¹ disagreements continued to echo on Capitol Hill. 

Kentucky Democrat² John Yarmuth derided¹² Republican calls to start over on health care. "No, we can't start over because if we start over life will be over for too many Americans," he said.

Texas Republican Lamar Smith repeated the assertion that President Obama's plan would place the government in charge of making health decisions for Americans. "The health care scheme, under reconciliation¹³, means decisions made by the government, behind closed doors, against the wishes of the American people," he said.

The term "reconciliation" refers to a process President Obama and Democrats are likely to use to win upcoming votes in the Senate with a simple 51 vote majority, rather than a 60 vote margin¹⁴, to avoid Republican roadblocks.
 

1 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

2 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。

3 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。

4 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

5 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

6 unleash   

vt.发泄，发出；解带子放开

参考例句：

• They hope to create allies to unleash against diseases,pests,and invasive species.他们希望创造出一些新群体来对付疾病、害虫和一些有侵害性的物种。
• Changing water levels now at times unleash a miasma of disease from exposed sewage.如今，大坝不时地改变水位，从暴露的污水释放出了疾病瘴气。

7 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。

8 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》

9 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。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

11 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。

12 derided   

v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His views were derided as old-fashioned. 他的观点被当作旧思想受到嘲弄。
• Gazing up to the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity. 我抬头疑视着黑暗，感到自己是一个被虚荣心驱使和拨弄的可怜虫。 来自辞典例句

13 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

14 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。