President Obama’s Sunday evening debt-ceiling speech
Good evening. There are still some very important votes to be taken by members of Congress, but I want to announce that the leaders of both parties, in both chambers, have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default — a default that would have had a devastating effect on our economy。
晚上好。现在国会议员还有一些重要的票要投，但是我要宣布参众两院的两党领导人已经达成削减赤字和避免债务违约的协议，债务违约将给美国经济带来灾难性影响。
The first part of this agreement will cut about $1 trillion in spending over the next 10 years — cuts that both parties had agreed to early on in this process. The result would be the lowest level of annual domestic spending since Dwight Eisenhower was President — but at a level that still allows us to make job-creating investments in things like education and research. We also made sure that these cuts wouldn’t happen so abruptly that they’d be a drag on a fragile economy。
协议的第一部分要求在未来10年里削减约1万亿美元的开支，而削减开支这项内容在投票表决的初期两党就已经一致同意。这将使美国的年度国内开支降至自艾森豪威尔总统以来的最低水平，但是在这个开支水平我们还能投资诸如教育和研究等领域来创造就业机会。我们保证不会过急削减开支以免拖累脆弱的经济。
Now, I’ve said from the beginning that the ultimate solution to our deficit problem must be balanced. Despite what some Republicans have argued, I believe that we have to ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share by giving up tax breaks and special deductions. Despite what some in my own party have argued, I believe that we need to make some modest adjustments to programs like Medicare to ensure that they’re still around for future generations。
从一开始，我就已经说过我们赤字问题的最终解决方法必须是平衡的。不管一些共和党人争辩什么，我相信，我们不得不要求最富裕的美国人和最大的企业放弃税额优惠和特殊扣减，缴纳公平的税收份额。不管我所在党派的一些成员争辩什么，我相信，我们需要对诸如医疗保健等项目做一些最适度的调整来确保未来世代都受益于此。
That’s why the second part of this agreement is so important. It establishes a bipartisan committee of Congress to report back by November with a proposal to further reduce the deficit, which will then be put before the entire Congress for an up or down vote. In this stage, everything will be on the table. To hold us all accountable for making these reforms, tough cuts that both parties would find objectionable would automatically go into effect if we don’t act. And over the next few months, I’ll continue to make a detailed case to these lawmakers about why I believe a balanced approach is necessary to finish the job。
这就是协议第二部分如此重要的原因。协议第二部分是要在国会建立一个两党联立的委员会在今年11月前就“进一步削减赤字”提出建议。这个建议将在整个国会进行一同意或不同意的表决。在这个阶段，一切都将进行公开讨论。我们所有人对这些改革和艰难的削减赤字负责，如果我们不采取行动，两党将发现不利后果会自动生效。在接下来的几个月里，我将继续向立法者说明我相信平衡方法的原因。
Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required — on entitlement reform and tax reform — right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need, and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year。
