2007年VOA标准英语-Congressional Democrats Vow New Push for Iraq W

By Dan Robinson
Capitol Hill
30 June 2007

Majority Democrats¹ are vowing² to go ahead with plans for a new legislative³ push to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq after Congress returns next month from a week-long break. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill.

House and Senate Democratic leaders met with reporters as lawmakers began the July 4th Independence Day break.

 

The recess⁴ comes at the six-month point of the 110th Congress, during which Democrats have attempted to move key parts of their agenda forward. But while they were able to make Iraq their central focus, resistance by President Bush prevented Democrats from using war funding legislation to set a specific timetable to begin withdrawing U.S. forces.

Harry5 Reid (l), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi take part in a news conference on Capitol Hill, 29 June 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070704/1511240.jpg" width="208" vspace="2" border="0" />

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (l), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi take part in a news conference on Capitol Hill, 29 June 2007

Another round of the standoff will play out when lawmakers return in July, says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"We have many arrows in our quiver and we are sharpening them, including taking a bill to the floor in July to authorize⁶ the redeployment of troops out of Iraq, except for the purposes I mentioned, with a definite deadline of April 1, 2008," she said.

Pelosi hopes that by then President Bush will have, as she puts it, heard public demand to begin moving U.S. forces out. Democrats would withdraw all forces except for those needed for diplomatic and remaining force protection.

Calling the war in Iraq the key issue dragging down the confidence of Americans, Senate Democratic majority leader Harry Reid says the Senate will pursue similar efforts, starting with votes on the defense⁷ authorization⁸ bill in July.

Democrats are trying to highlight what they call key accomplishments⁹ since winning control of Congress after last November's election, in which Republicans suffered many losses largely due to dissatisfaction over Iraq.

The Democrats say their accomplishments include more than 100 congressional hearings on Iraq, along with completion in the House of the Democrat's six-part agenda.

But Republicans accuse Democrats of broken promises on everything from congressional ethics¹⁰ reform to energy policy, and note that a number of Democratic priorities, including a bill to implement¹¹ all recommendations of the September 11 Commission, have not made it to the president's desk.

"Republicans want to work with Democrats to deal with the issues that the American people sent us here to deal with," said House Minority Leader John Boehner. "Unfortunately, the Democrats have decided¹² to go their own way [and] their broken promises have led to little in the way of accomplishments."

Senate lawmakers leave behind them the collapse¹³ of bipartisan efforts to reform the U.S. immigration system.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid asserts Republicans are obstructing¹⁴ progress by using the 60-vote majority requirement in the Senate necessary to end debate on bills and move them toward passage.

"The story on immigration reform is all too apparent," he said. "Twelve votes, the Republicans supplied. Each one of these things that I have talked about has an impact on people in Nevada, New York, California, South Carolina, Maryland. These are issues that are important to Americans, and the fact is that Republicans aren't allowing us to proceed on them."

Reid has warned senators that he may keep them in session in August, when lawmakers are scheduled to begin the long summer break, to complete work on ethics and September 11 legislation.

House Democrats are still working on provisions of the Iraq legislation they will offer in July. They are seeking to establish an April 1 target for withdrawing most combat forces, and urging a stronger diplomatic push by President with Iraq's neighboring countries.

1 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》

2 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

3 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。

4 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

5 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

6 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

9 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

11 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

14 obstructing   

阻塞( obstruct的现在分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止

参考例句：

• You can't park here, you're obstructing my driveway. 你不能在这里停车，你挡住了我家的车道。
• He was charged for obstructing the highway. 他因阻碍交通而受控告。