Finally, America is on the verge of a major step towards reducing its dangerous and long-term fiscal deficits. This was seen as impossible six months ago. But a combination of growing public antipathy to deficits and fierce opposition to raising the federal debt limit this summer has changed the environment, and put Congress into a bind. It must raise the debt ceiling to enable continued national borrowing and avoid a catastrophic default. So, for political protection, its members now want to deliver a simultaneous, large deficit reduction package. Negotiations focus on $1,000bn-$2,000bn of reduction over 10 years, against an August 2 deadline on the debt limit. It may occur at midnight, but an agreement is likely.
終于，美國即將向削減其危險的長期財(cái)政赤字邁出重要的一步。就在半年前，這還被視為不可能的事情。但隨著今年夏季公眾對赤字的反感愈演愈烈，加之對提高聯(lián)邦債務(wù)上限的強(qiáng)烈反對，形勢發(fā)生了變化，令美國國會陷入困境。美國國會必須提高債務(wù)上限，以便使政府能夠繼續(xù)舉債，避免災(zāi)難性的違約。因此，出于政治上的保護(hù)，國會議員目前希望政府同時宣布一項(xiàng)龐大的債務(wù)削減方案。在8月2日調(diào)整債務(wù)上限的最后期限之前，談判的焦點(diǎn)集中于在10年內(nèi)削減1萬億至2萬億美元的債務(wù)上面。談判可能會拖到最后時刻，但達(dá)成協(xié)議是有可能的。