A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning 一場策劃數月的聯邦預算危機

A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning
一場策劃數月的聯邦預算危機
2013-11-04◎管淑平


Shortly after President Obama started his second term, a loose-knit coalition of conservative activists led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III gathered in the capital to plot strategy.
總統歐巴馬展開他的第二任期後不久，由前司法部長愛德恩．梅瑟三世率領一個組織鬆散的保守派運動人士聯盟，在首都聚會出謀劃策。


Their push to repeal Mr. Obama’s health care law was going nowhere, and they desperately needed a new plan.
他們推動推翻歐巴馬醫療健保法的行動苦無進展，亟需一套新方案。


Out of that session, held one morning in a location the members insist on keeping secret, came a little-noticed “blueprint to defunding Obamacare,” signed by Mr. Meese and leaders of more than three dozen conservative groups.
那場某個早晨在一個與會成員堅持保密的地點舉行的聚會，提出一個不太受到注意的「抽掉歐巴馬健保資金藍圖」，由梅瑟和30多個保守派團體領袖簽署。


It articulated a take-no-prisoners legislative strategy that had long percolated in conservative circles： that Republicans could derail the health care overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push fellow Republicans — including their cautious leaders — into cutting off financing for the entire federal government.
這份藍圖清楚明確地訂出一套毫不妥協的立法策略，而這招早已在保守派圈內流傳，就是若保守派議員願意力促同黨議員，包括他們謹慎小心的領袖，切斷整個聯邦政府的資金，共和黨就能破壞醫療健保改革。


To many Americans, the shutdown came out of nowhere. But interviews with a wide array of conservatives show that the confrontation that precipitated the crisis was the outgrowth of a long-running effort to undo the law, the Affordable Care Act, since its passage in 2010 — waged by a galaxy of conservative groups with more money, organized tactics and interconnections than is commonly known.
對許多美國人來說，這次政府關門發生得莫名其妙。但訪談多名保守派人士後顯示，導致這場危機的對峙，是自從「（病人保護暨）可負擔照護法」在2010年通過後，保守派團體長期努力推翻此法的結果，他們有更充沛資金、更多組織戰術，以及比一般所知更緊密的相互聯繫。


新聞辭典
go nowhere：動詞片語，沒有進展、一事無成。例句：My life is going nowhere!（我的人生一事無成。）
take-no-prisoners：原為動詞片語take no prisoners，毫不留情，意志堅決、不擇手段達到目的。在本文中轉為形容詞。例句：He is very determined to get this deal done. He’ll take no prisoners.（他決心要敲定這筆生意。他將不擇手段，毫不妥協。）