2013-10-02 【國際新聞學英語：國會僵局迫使美國政府17年來再次關閉（二）】
而保家衛國的現役軍人薪水如何支付，在最後關頭出現一絲曙光。國會批准在週一發送到白宮的一項協議，將維持軍人薪水的支出。但總統歐巴馬也針對政府機構以外，更廣大的經濟層面提出警告，表示終於從過去六年衰退開始復甦的經濟狀況，將會因為國會關閉「美國最大雇主」的僵局再次受到重挫。
In a last-minute ray of hope for active-duty troops, Congress on Monday approved and sent to the White House an agreement to keep issuing military paychecks. But Obama warned that the broader economy, which is finally starting to recover from the shocks of the past six years, would take a substantial hit if congressional gridlock shutters “America’s largest employer.”
「維持人民的政府開放對我來說不該是一種讓步。維持重要服務、讓成千上萬的美國人能夠繼續工作，不是可以『給』對立黨派的一樣東西，這應該我們的基本職責」歐巴馬在週一晚間由白宮發出的聲明。
Keeping the people’s government open is not a concession to me. Keeping vital services running and hundreds of thousands of Americans on the job is not something you ‘give’ to the other side. It’s our basic responsibility,” Obama said in a statement Monday evening at the White House.
資深共和黨員表示，預測關閉將持續至少一個星期。
其實在1996年，就發生政府停擺事件，而且由共和黨主導，同樣因預算問題和民主黨總統引起爭論。極小部分的現職共和黨眾議院議員也是當時國會山莊的議員，但是資許多年輕的議員並不記得上一次政府關閉帶來的衝擊。資深的議員普遍認為1996年的關閉削弱了共和黨總統候選人勢力，並且也對共和黨在眾議院的控制權造成相當大的損失，但年輕的議員對這樣的說法抱持質疑的態度。
Privately, senior Republicans predicted that the closure would last at least a week. A fraction of today’s House Republicans were on Capitol Hill in 1995 and 1996 when a Republican-led Congress last shut down the government in a dispute over the budget with a Democratic president. Younger lawmakers don’t remember the pain the shutdown caused constituents, senior Republicans said. And many of them now question the conventional wisdom that the closures weakened the GOP presidential candidate in 1996 and nearly cost the party control of the House.
| 精選單字： | 詞性與解釋 | 音韻代碼 |
| substantial | a.實質的 | sbʃ |
| shutter | n,百葉窗;快門;蓋子 | ʃt |
| concession | n.讓步;特准 | ksʃ |
| vital | a,生命的;重要的 | vt |
| Capitol | n.愛神神殿;國會議廳 | kpt |
| dispute | v.爭吵;議論 | dp |
| conventional | a.因襲的;慣例的 | kvʃn |
| fraction | n.小部份;分數 | fsʃ |
| constituent | a.選舉權的 | kttʃa |
