全通翻譯/翻譯社

US averts fiscal cliff, but budget debate far from being over (2013/01/03)

預算大戰

美國財政墜崖危機暫時解除，全球股市上演慶祝行情。不過讓自動減支措施，兩個月後就要啟動，針對要刪減政府哪些支出項目，美國朝野還沒有共識，這也表示，兩個月後，國會還要針對債務上限和預算問題再吵一次，美國的財政危機，並沒有落幕。

美國國會元旦通過財政法案，暫時化解經濟墜崖危機，全球股市紛紛上演慶祝行情。不少共和黨議員已經磨刀霍霍，揚言要在兩個月後的預算大戰，要求民主黨大砍醫療補助等福利支出，來換取共和黨同意調高政府舉債上限。不過歐巴馬強調，這樣的事不會發生。

[[美國總統 歐巴馬]]
“我不會繼續跟國會打口水戰，爭論他們究竟該不該支付，他們透過立法通過調高的債務，我們不能不支付，已經欠下的債務，如果國會拒絕給美國政府，準時支付帳單的能力，將為全球經濟帶來巨大災難，衝擊力比財政懸崖嚴重”

原本要在1月2日啟動的1090億美元自動減支措施，兩個月後還要再辯，共和黨求之不得。

[[共和黨參院領袖 麥康爾]]
“我們替國家做了點好事，處理好國庫收入的爭議，現在該好好來處理，華府支出失控的問題了”

美國聯邦政府已經瀕臨16.4兆美元的舉債上限，等到3月一到，國會如果無法調高，恐怕又要重演去年夏天，美國瀕臨倒債危機，主權債信評慘遭調降的驚魂記。

A budget crisis was temporarily averted in the United States Tuesday night when the House of Representatives passed a fiscal cliff bill. But a new battle is expected to be waged in two months, when the US debt ceiling needs to be raised again and new spending cuts are scheduled to take effect. 

Global stock markets reacted positively to news that the US House of Representatives voted to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. But many Republicans were already getting ready for the next battle in which they will press Democrats to cut spending on social programs in exchange for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling. The president says that won’t happen.

Barack Obama
US President
I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed. We can’t not pay bills that we’ve already incurred. If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic, far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff.

Still, the fiscal cliff bill simply put off by two months US$109 billion in automatic spending cuts that were to take effect on Jan 2. So there will be a debate on spending that Republicans say they will welcome.

Mitch McConnell
Senate Minority Leader
We’ve done some good for the country. We’ve taken care of the revenue side of this debate and now it’s time to get serious about reducing Washington’s out of control spending.

The US government will need to raise its US$16.4 trillion debt ceiling in March. If Congress refuses, a repeat of last summer’s crisis, when the US’s credit rating was downgraded, is bound to be repeated.

資料來源：民視英語新聞