VOA标准英语2011-President Obama, Republicans Clash Over J

President Barack Obama is promoting recent government action to spur job creation, while Republicans maintain focus on trying to discredit¹ last year's health care reform law.

In his weekly address, Mr. Obama points to deals he finalized² this week with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

"We will be increasing U.S. exports to China by more than $45 billion, and China's investments in America by several billion dollars. Most important, these deals will support some 235,000 American jobs," said Obama.

Mr. Obama also promotes his decision to appoint General Electric's chief Jeff Immelt to head a new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

"I am confident that they will generate good ideas about how we can spur hiring, educate our workers to compete in the 21st century, and attract the best jobs and businesses to America rather than seeing them spring up overseas," added Obama.

In the Republican weekly address, Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso calls last year's health care legislation, which he labels "Obamacare", as "job-destroying."

"Each and every day more people pay the price of Obamacare's mountain of mandates," said Barrasso. "As I travel across the country, I continue to hear from Americans who want Washington to take its' hands off of their health care."

Majority Republicans in the House of Representatives recently voted to repeal³ the health care legislation, which expands coverage⁴ to more Americans. But the bill does not have the votes to pass in Mr. Obama's Democratic Party-dominated Senate.

Another political showdown takes place Tuesday when Mr. Obama will deliver his 2011 State of the Union address.

Wisconsin Congressman⁵ Paul Ryan will give the rebuttal for Republicans, but the so-called anti-spending Tea Party within the Republican Party has announced it will have Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann give an alternate rebuttal.

1 discredit   

vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑

参考例句：

• Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
• They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。

2 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

4 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。

5 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。