United States
美國版塊
The infrastructure bill
基礎設施法案
It's a deal
成交
Joe Biden's bipartisan dream stays alive, for now
目前,喬·拜登的兩黨合作夢還在
Even before the Senate voted overwhelmingly to advance a bipartisan $1.2trn infrastructure agreement, President Joe Biden hailed it as proof "that our democracy can function, deliver and do big things". In fact, given the legislative hurdles ahead, the deal supplied evidence—tentative at that—for just the first claim. Yet for a country aghast at its own toxic partisanship, that is significant progress.
甚至在參議院以壓倒性多數投票通過一項1.2萬億美元的兩黨基礎設施協議之前,美國總統喬拜登就曾稱贊它是“我們的民主能夠發揮作用、實現并做大事”的證據。事實上,考慮到今后的立法障礙,該協議僅為第一個索賠提供了證據——暫時的證據。然而,對于一個黨派之爭十分激烈的國家來說,這是一個重大進步。
In a procedural step required to prevent a filibuster, all 50 Senate Democrats were joined by 17 Republicans, including their leader, Mitch McConnell, who has called himself the Grim Reaperfor his opposition to Democratic policy-making. During the presidency of Donald Trump, Mr McConnell resisted Mr Trump's own hopes of investing in infrastructure.
在阻止阻撓議事的程序步驟中,17名共和黨參議員加入了所有50名民主黨參議員的行列,其中包括他們的領袖米奇·麥康奈爾。麥康奈爾因反對民主黨的政策制定而自稱為“死神”。在唐納德·特朗普擔任總統期間,麥康奈爾拒絕了特朗普投資基礎設施的希望。
But Mr Trump's infrastructure initiative was so inchoate it became a national punchline. This time, months of painstaking negotiation among a small group of Democrats and Republicans, coaxed with compromises from Mr Biden, resulted in a package likely to be broadly popular with the public, if not with activists of either party. In contrast to the dysfunctional policymaking under Mr Trump, "in this case you had the Biden White House, the Senate Republicans and the Senate Democrats," says Scott Jennings, a Republican consultant and longtime adviser to Mr McConnell, "they all had the appetite and the attention span to work things out." This is, he adds, how the Senate is meant to work, patiently shaping consensus.
但特朗普的基礎設施倡議太過稚嫩,成了全美的笑料。這一次,一小群民主黨人和共和黨人經過幾個月的艱苦談判,拜登做出了妥協,最終達成了一項可能會受到公眾廣泛歡迎的方案,即便兩黨活動人士都不喜歡。共和黨顧問、麥康奈爾的長期顧問斯科特·詹寧斯表示,與特朗普領導下功能失調的政策制定相比,“這一次,拜登領導下的白宮、參議院共和黨人和參議院民主黨人都有解決問題的意愿和持續的關注。”他補充說,這就是參議院的工作方式,耐心地達成共識。
In all, the bill would add some $550bn in spending across eight years on top of other projected infrastructure investments. There would be $110bn for roads, bridges and other such projects, $73bn for the electric grid, $65bn for universal broadband access, $55bn for clean drinking water, $42bn for ports and airports, and $7.5bn for a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles. The deal also includes $39bn for public transit. Democrats and Republicans say the spending would be paid for with a mix of sources including unused pandemic-relief money, unspent unemployment benefits and changes to prescription-drug rules.
總的來說,該法案將在未來8年增加約5500億美元的支出,此外還將增加其他預計的基礎設施投資。1100億美元將用于道路、橋梁和其它此類項目,730億美元用于電網,650億美元用于通用寬帶接入,550億美元用于清潔飲用水,420億美元用于港口和機場,75億美元用于全國電動汽車充電站網絡。該協議還包括390億美元用于公共交通。民主黨和共和黨表示,這些支出將由多種來源支付,包括尚未使用的流行病救濟資金、未使用的失業救濟金和對處方藥規定的修改。
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