美國議員仍就預算問題僵持不下

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday the government appears headed toward a shutdown, as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders remain deadlocked in a budget dispute.

Reid, a Democrat, said he is not nearly as optimistic about solving the impasse as he was Wednesday night after meeting with Republican House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama. Boehner on Thursday said talks are "progressing" to reach a compromise on a spending plan through the end of the government's fiscal year in September. But he said no deal has been reached yet on the size of the budget cuts or on policy statements Republicans favor about abortion rights and environmental issues. Reid and Boehner were meeting at the White House again Thursday afternoon to try to work through differences on a budget for the fiscal year that began last October. Without an agreement before the end of Friday, many functions of the U.S. government will have to cease operations. In a message on Twitter, Mr. Obama said that with the U.S. economy still emerging from an "extraordinarily deep recession," it would be "inexcusable" not to reach a compromise.

The House of Representatives is voting Thursday on a Republican proposal for a one-week spending extension to keep the government running beyond Friday. Senate Majority Leader Reid said he opposes that bill, calling it a "non-starter." The White House says Mr. Obama will veto it, if it makes it to his desk.

美國國會參議院多數派領袖裏德星期四說，聯邦政府似乎在走向關閉。奧巴馬總統和國會領袖在預算爭議中仍陷於僵局。

民主黨人裏德表示，他現在對能否解決僵局不像星期三晚上那樣樂觀。在那之前，他會晤了衆議院議長、共和黨人貝納和奧巴馬總統。貝納星期四表示，會談取得進展，在開支計劃問題上更接近妥協。談判的開支計劃涵蓋聯邦政府到今年9月的財政年度。但是貝納說，還沒有就預算削減的幅度和政策聲明達成協議。共和黨人希望就墮胎權利和環保問題發表政策聲明。裏德和貝納星期四下午將再次在白宮會晤，試圖解決在本財政年度預算上的分歧。本財年從去年10月1日開始。如果到星期五午夜雙方仍不能達成協議，美國政府的許多部門將被迫停止運作。奧巴馬總統在推特上說，美國經濟仍在努力走出一場特別深重的衰退。如果不能達成預算協議，這是不可原諒的。

星期四，衆議院將就共和黨提出的一個建議進行表決。該建議把聯邦政府臨時開支延長一個星期，以保持政府在星期五以後的運作。但是，參議院多數黨領袖裏德反對這個提案，他說這個提案不會使預算談判“有成功的希望”。白宮表示，如果這個提案送交總統簽字，會被奧巴馬否決。