研英阅读高分训练：时文精选(1)

今日关注：奥巴马 医改 中期选举

Health care and the mid-term elections

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传统来讲，金融集团和军工企业是共和党的支持者，高科技企业和知识精英是民主党的主要支持者，两党曾经平分秋色。但随着金融集团的力量越来越强大，共和党的势力越来越大，这也是共和党长期占据美国执政位置的原因。

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北京时间10月15日上午消息，据外电报道，美国佛罗里达州地方法官罗杰-文森(Roger Vinson)周四判定，各州可继续推进寻求推翻奥巴马总统的医疗改革法案的诉讼案。上月，文森曾在听证会上表示将阻挠美国司法部驳回该诉讼的努力。那些反对奥巴马的2.5万亿美元医疗改革法案的人表示，该法案实行非法税收，要求公民必须获得医疗保险等规定违反宪法。今年3月，以共和党为主的多个州总检察长提起诉讼，要求推翻新的医疗改革法案。允许该诉讼继续进行的判决对奥巴马而言是一大挫折。奥巴马将医改作为其任期议程的基础。而在11月2日举行的中期选举中，他还将面临着共和党的强大挑战。文森驳回了针对医疗改革法案的六项控诉中的四项，并称他看到另两项控诉继续推进的理由，其中一项指控是针对该法案会迫使各州政府在医疗方面投入巨额资金。法律专家指出，该诉讼案很有可能会送至美国高等法院，但大部分专家称各州获胜的几率很小。

Coming back to bite him

Republicans want to repeal Barack Obama’s health laws. How badly could they hurt the reforms—and how much will this help them in November’s elections?

Oct 14th 2010 | NEW YORK

“WHAT does Mrs D’Amico care about most?” That question, concerning a fictional but representative constituent from his Long Island base, is one that preoccupies Steve Israel, a moderate Democratic congressman from New York. He worries that the answer, all too often, is Barack Obama’s controversial new health-care reform bill, enacted back in March. His strategy has been to tackle the issue head-on, by trumpeting the virtues of “Obamacare”, such as the planned end to lifetime caps on insurance payouts or the guarantee that insurance must be offered to all, without discrimination on the grounds of pre-existing conditions. “I just got sick of the Republicans getting away with murder,” he declares.

This makes him a rare bird, for most Democrats running for re-election are staying mum or apologising for their votes for reform. Republicans, who have noisily declared their intention to repeal the new health laws if they win control of Congress, appear to have found a useful weapon in the campaign.

An outright repeal is impossible, as Mr Obama could simply veto any such bill. So Republicans are planning instead a strategy of “defunding” the new health law. Even Tom Daschle, a prominent Democratic former senator, thinks this is the Republicans’ best weapon. In “Getting It Done”, a new book published this week, he declares “It would be all too easy to kill the reform effort not by repealing it, but by starving it.” The bill will need over $100 billion in around 100 new authorisations over the next decade, all of which will require approval from Congress. Besides that, the Republicans could attach provisions to vital bills, such as the budget, that would forbid federal workers (say, at the Internal Revenue Service) from implementing the law. Congressman Paul Ryan, an influential Republican from Wisconsin, insists that “We’ll try every angle, from defunding to budget reconciliation.”