Good morning.
Over the past few days, I’ve met with Republicans and Democrats from both houses of Congress in an effort to reopen your government and remove the dangers of default from our economy.
It’s a positive development that House Republicans have agreed on the need to avoid the economic consequences of not meeting our country’s commitments. Because once the debt ceiling is raised, and the shutdown is over, there’s a lot we can accomplish together.
We’ve created seven and a half million new jobs in the past three and a half years. Now let’s create more. We’ve cut our deficits in half over the past four years. Now let’s do it in a smarter, balanced way that lets us afford to invest in the things we need to grow.
The truth is, there’s a lot we can agree on. But one thing we have to agree on is that there is no good reason anyone should keep suffering through this shutdown. I met with some really innovative small business owners on Friday who’ve already lost contracts, lost customers, and put hiring on hold – because the pain of this Republican shutdown has trickled down to their bottom lines. It’s hurting the very citizens that our government exists to serve. That’s why a growing number of reasonable Republicans say it should end now.
And it wouldn’t be wise, as some suggest, to just kick the debt ceiling can down the road for a couple months, and flirt with a first-ever intentional default right in the middle of the holiday shopping season. Because damage to America’s sterling credit rating wouldn’t just cause global markets to go haywire; it would become more expensive for everyone in America to borrow money. Students paying for college. Newlyweds buying a home. It would amount to a new tax – aRepublican default tax – on every family and business in America.
It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s not supposed to be this way. Manufacturing crises to extract massive concessions isn’t how our democracy works, and we have to stop it. Politics is a battle of ideas, but you advance those ideas through elections and legislation – not extortion.
I know you’re frustrated by what you see in your nation’s capital right now. But because it’s easy to get lost in or give up on the political back-and-forth, I want you to remember: this is not normal. Our government is closed for the first time in 17 years. A political party is risking default for the first time since the 1700s. This is not normal. That’s why we have to put a stop to it. Not only because it’s dangerous, but because it saps everyone’s faith in our extraordinary system of self-government. And that hurts us all.
Whether it’s the work of creating jobs, growing the economy, or getting our fiscal house in order for the long haul, we’ve got a lot of work to do – and constant brinksmanship doesn’t let us do it.
It inflicts real pain on real people. It creates spasms of uncertainty for business owners. It threatens our nation’s credit and standing in the world. And the longer it goes on – the more frequently this brinksmanship is inflicted – the more we’ll see markets react, businesses put off plans to spend and hire, and unemployment claims tick up. The hundreds of thousands of hardworking civil servants who go even longer without pay will worry that they won’t be able to cover their bills, and that their own creditworthiness will be ruined for no good reason at all. And I want to thank all the neighbors and local business owners who’ve shown acts of kindness to theseAmericans who serve their country. I ask that same spirit of citizenship from lenders who do business with these folks. Because they’re being punished enough through no fault of their own.
So let’s pass a budget, put people back to work, and end this Republican shutdown. Let’s pay our bills, and prevent an economic shutdown. Then let’s get back to the work of the American people.Because there is so much else we should be focusing our energies on right now. We’ve got to create more jobs, and kids to educate, and an immigration system to fix. We’ve got more troops to bring home, and a middle class to rebuild, and opportunity to restore. There’s so much America has going for it in this new century. And as always, this country works better when we work together.
Thank you, and have a great weekend.
巴拉克.奥巴马总统讲话
每周演讲
白宫
2013年10月12日
大家好！过去几天，我会见了国会参众两院的共和党人和民主党人，努力重启美国政府，消除美国经济违约的危险。众议院共和党人已就避免不能兑现我们国家承诺的经济后果的必要性达成一致，这是一个积极的变化。因为一旦债务上限得以提高、政府关门结束，我们可以一起完成许多事情。
在过去三年半的时间里，我们创造了750万个新的工作岗位。现在，让我们创造更多的工作岗位吧！在过去四年里，我们把美国政府财政赤字削减了一半。现在，让我们以更明智的平衡方式削减财政赤字，使我们可以投资需要发展的项目吧！事实上，有许多问题我们都可以达成一致。不过，我们不得不达成一致的一件事情是，不存在人们应该继续遭受这次政府关门折磨的充分理由。
周五，我会见了一些真正具有创新精神的小企业主，他们已经失去了合同、失去了客户，不得不推迟招聘人手——因为这次共和党式政府关门带来的阵痛，严重影响了他们的最终利润。政府关门正在伤害我们政府所服务的每位公民。正是出于这一理由，越来越多明智的共和党人认为，现在这一切该结束了。
我认为，像一些人建议的那样，只把政府借款授权延长区区数月，在假期购物季节当口，开玩笑地对待有史以来的第一次故意违约是不明智的。因为伤害美国的顶级信用评级，不仅会导致全球市场失去控制；美国人民的借贷成本也会变得更加高昂。支付学费的学生。购买住房的新婚夫妇。这等于向美国每个家庭和企业开征一个新的税种——共和党违约税。不必是这种方式。不应该是这种方式。制造危机来获取重大让步，这不是我们的民主运作的方式，我们要去阻止它。政治是思想的斗争，但是，提出和推动这些思想的方式是选举和立法，而不是勒索和敲诈。
我知道，你们对首都华盛顿目前发生的一切倍感懊恼。但是，由于太容易在政治的推来攘去中迷失方向或放弃目标，我希望你们记住：这不正常！我们的政府17年来首次关闭。一个政党正在冒发生美国建国以来首次（国债）违约的风险。这不正常！正是这一原因，我们要阻止它。不仅因为它充满危险，还因为它削弱每个人对我们卓越的自治系统的信任。这对我们全体都造成伤害。
不管是创造工作岗位、发展经济，还是为了长期发展而重整我们的财政机构，我们有太多的工作要做，可不断出现的边缘政策却不让我们有所作为。它使真正的人民遭受真真切切的痛苦。它给企业主造成一阵又一阵的不确定性。它威胁我们国家在国际上的信用和地位。这种局面持续得越长——这种边缘政策出现得越频繁——我们就会看到，市场反应越激烈，企业越倾向推迟开支和销售计划，失业率越日高一日。
成千上万勤劳的公务员经历更长的时间拿不到工资，担心他们无法支付账单，担心他们自己的信誉毫无理由地遭受伤害。我想感谢所有的邻居和当地企业主，他们对为他们国家服务的这些美国人表现得如此友好。我恳求与这些同胞做生意的借贷者表现同样的公民精神。因为这些同胞代人受过、吃够了苦头。因此，让我们通过预算、让人们重返工作岗位、结束这场共和党式的政府关门吧。让我们支付我们的账单，防止经济关门。然后，让我们回到美国人民的工作上吧！
因为，目前有如此多的其他事情需要我们倾注精力。我们要创造更多的工作岗位，要教育孩子，要修复移民系统。我们要让更多的军人返回故土，要重建中产阶级，要恢复机会。在这个新世纪，美国有如此多的目标需要去实现。像往常一样，当我们团结一致时，这个国家就会运转得更好。谢谢！祝周末愉快！
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