美国财长对财政悬崖谈判摆出强硬立场

Tim Geithner has challenged Republicans in Congress to come up with their own budget proposal as the two political parties continued to spar ahead of the looming fiscal cliff deadline at the end of the month.

美国财长蒂姆·盖特纳(Tim Geithner)要求国会的共和党议员提出他们自己的预算建议。美国两党继续在月底的财政悬崖最后期限逼近之际吵闹不休。

Striking a hard line in the increasingly tense talks to reach a budget deal, the Treasury secretary said that Republicans, who rejected the administration’s initial proposal last week, should specify the budget cuts they want to see. “What we can’t do is keep guessing about what works, Mr Geithner told ABC’s This Week.

盖特纳在为达成预算协议而开展的日益紧张的谈判中抛出强硬立常他表示，共和党应该明确说明他们希望的预算削减方案。盖特纳在美国广播公司(ABC) This Week节目中表示：“我们不能一直猜测怎样削减才奏效。共和党上周拒绝了政府的最初提议。

He has been leading the talks with congressional leaders on behalf of Barack Obama, two months before his planned departure from his post at the end of the president’s first term in office on January 20.

盖特纳一直代表美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)主持与国会领导人的谈判。他计划在两个月后的2013年1月20日、奥巴马首任任期结束之际离职。

On Thursday, he met John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, and Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, to deliver Mr Obama’s detailed opening deficit reduction plan designed to avert the fiscal cliff.

上周四，盖特纳与美国众议院共和党议长约翰·博纳(John Boehner)和参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)会晤，传达了奥巴马为避免财政悬崖而提出的详细初步减赤计划。

But the Republicans judged Mr Obama’s offer to be too heavy on tax increases on the wealthy, and too light on cuts to the cost of bulging government healthcare and pension programmes. Mr Obama is also making other demands – such as a permanent increase in the US borrowing limit, a more aggressive housing refinancing programme, and at least $50bn in new stimulus – that have irked Republicans.

但共和党认为奥巴马的提议对富人增税过多，而且没有削减多少政府庞大的医疗和养老金支出。奥巴马还提出了令共和党恼火的其他要求，比如永久性提高美国债务上限、一个更加激进的住房贷款再融资项目以及至少500亿美元的新刺激方案。

In a pre-recorded interview with Fox News broadcast, Mr Boehner said he was “just flabbergasted by the proposal Mr Geithner put forward last week.

博纳在福克斯资讯(Fox News)事先录制的采访中表示，他对盖特纳上周的提议“感到震惊。

“I said: ‘We’ve got several weeks between election day and the end of the year. And three of those weeks have been wasted with this nonsense.’

“我说：‘我们从大选日到年底本来有好几周时间，其中三周就被这种废话浪费了’。

If no deal is reached by December 31, the US will be hit by a combination of tax rise and spending cuts that threatens to tip the economy back into recession next year.

如果到12月31日达不成任何协议，美国将同时遭遇增税和支出削减，这有可能让美国经济在明年重新陷入衰退。

Mr Geithner was confident that a deal would be reached, saying some “political theatre was inevitable. But he added that social security, the US government pension scheme, should not be part of the budget negotiations, as some Republicans have insisted.

盖特纳相信最终将达成协议，他表示，免不了会有一些“政治表演。但他补充称，美国政府养老金项目——社会保障计划(Social Security)不应像某些共和党人坚持的那样，成为预算谈判的一部分。

Amid Senate Republicans, there were some conciliatory noises yesterday. “My side knows we lost the election, and we’re willing to put revenue on the table that would get some political heat for people like me, Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator, said on CBS’ Face the Nation.

昨日在参议院的共和党议员当中出现了一些调和的声音。南卡罗来纳州参议员林塞·格雷厄姆(Lindsey Graham)在哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)资讯节目“面对国家(Face the Nation)中表示：“我们知道输掉了大选，我们愿意讨论财政收入问题，这将让我们这些人获得一些政治热度。