【英語演講】奧巴馬2014國情咨文(視頻) (三)

But Americans overwhelmingly agree that no one who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty.

但是大多數(shù)美國人認(rèn)為全職工作養(yǎng)家糊口的人不應(yīng)該處在貧窮中。

In the year since I asked this Congress to raise the minimum wage, five states have passed laws to raise theirs. Many businesses have done it on their own. Nick Chute is here tonight with his boss, John Soranno. John's an owner of Punch Pizza in Minneapolis, and Nick helps make the dough. Only now he makes more of it: John just gave his employees a raise, to ten bucks an hour - a decision that eased their financial stress and boosted their morale.

從我請求國會提高最低工資的那年起，五個州已經(jīng)出臺了提高當(dāng)?shù)刈畹凸べY法律規(guī)定。許多企業(yè)也實行了這項規(guī)定。今晚尼克•邱特和他的的老板約翰•索拉諾都在這里。約翰是明尼阿波里斯市一家匹薩店的老板，尼克幫他做面團(tuán)。最近他做了些改善：約翰把員工的工資漲到了每小時10美元，這項決定不僅改善了員工的經(jīng)濟(jì)壓力也提高了員工的士氣。

Tonight, I ask more of America's business leaders to follow John's lead and do what you can to raise your employees' wages. To every mayor, governor and state legislator in America, I say, you don't have to wait for Congress to act; Americans will support you if you take this on. And as a chief executive, I intend to lead by example. Profitable corporations like Costco see higher wages as the smart way to boost productivity and reduce turnover. We should too. In the coming weeks, I will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour - because if you cook our troops' meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn't have to live in poverty.

今晚，我希望能有更多的美國企業(yè)家能夠效仿約翰，盡最大努力地提高員工的工資。對每一位市長、地方長官和州議員，我想說的是，你們不必等到國會的決策出臺后再行動，如果你們能執(zhí)行這項決定，全美國都會支持你們。作為美國總統(tǒng)，我希望能以身作則。像科斯科(美國連鎖企業(yè))以創(chuàng)造利潤為目標(biāo)的企業(yè)，都把提高員工工資看作是提高生產(chǎn)效率和降低員工離職率的方式。我們也應(yīng)該采取這種辦法。在接下來的幾周，我將簽發(fā)一項總統(tǒng)令，要求聯(lián)邦承包商付給那些為聯(lián)邦工作的雇員們的最低工資為10.10美元每小時——因為如果你在為我們的軍隊做飯或者是洗碗，你不該為維持生計發(fā)愁。

Of course, to reach millions more, Congress needs to get on board. Today, the federal minimum wage is worth about 20 percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan first stood here. Tom Harkin and George Miller have a bill to fix that by lifting the minimum wage to $10.10. This will help families. It will give businesses customers with more money to spend. It doesn't involve any new bureaucratic program. So join the rest of the country. Say yes. Give America a raise.

當(dāng)然，要想達(dá)到幾百萬甚至更多公司提高最低工資，還得國會同意。現(xiàn)在的聯(lián)邦最低工資比羅納德•里根第一次站在這里時少20%。在最低工資提高到10.10美元后，湯姆•哈爾金和喬治•米勒將會有一筆賬要算。這項總統(tǒng)令可以幫助很多家庭，讓企業(yè)的客戶們有更多的錢消費(fèi)。而且它沒有卷入任何具有官僚主義的政治項目里。所以希望國家的其它地方加入到這個計劃進(jìn)來，與美國一起進(jìn)步。

There are other steps we can take to help families make ends meet, and few are more effective at reducing inequality and helping families pull themselves up through hard work than the earned income tax credit. Right now, it helps about half of all parents at some point. But I agree with Republicans like Sen. Rubio that it doesn't do enough for single workers who don't have kids. So let's work together to strengthen the credit, reward work, and help more Americans get ahead.

我們也可以采取其他措施實現(xiàn)各個家庭收支相抵。在減少不平等現(xiàn)象、幫助家庭改善現(xiàn)狀方面，減免所得稅額似乎更能達(dá)到該目的?，F(xiàn)在它已在一定程度上幫助了大約半數(shù)的家庭。不過，我也同意共和黨參議員魯比奧先生的看法，這對尚無孩子的單身工人來說還遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠。那就讓我們一同協(xié)作，加強(qiáng)稅收減免，獎勵工作，讓更多美國人實現(xiàn)富裕。

Let's do more to help Americans save for retirement. Today, most workers don't have a pension. A Social Security check often isn't enough on its own. And while the stock market has doubled over the last five years, that doesn't help folks who don't have 401ks. That's why, tomorrow, I will direct the Treasury to create a new way for working Americans to start their own retirement savings: MyRA. It's a new savings bond that encourages folks to build a nest egg. MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in. And if this Congress wants to help, work with me to fix an upside-down tax code that gives big tax breaks to help the wealthy save, but does little to nothing for middle-class Americans. Offer every American access to an automatic IRA on the job, so they can save at work just like everyone in this chamber can. And since the most important investment many families make is their home, send me legislation that protects taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again, and keeps the dream of homeownership alive for future generations of Americans.

讓我們一起幫助民眾為退休儲蓄。如今大多數(shù)員工都沒有退休金。單靠一張社會保險金的支票是不夠的。雖然過去五年里股票市場翻了一番，但這并沒能幫到那些未加入401k退休計劃的人。因此明天我會指示財政部創(chuàng)造一種新方式，確保工作人群可以開始為退休儲蓄，它就是“我的退休賬戶(MyRA)”——一種鼓勵人們創(chuàng)建新賬戶的新型儲蓄債券，可確保人們存錢后無任何賠錢的風(fēng)險，未來也會有一筆可觀的收入。如果這一屆國會想出一份力，那就和我一起修復(fù)原先那個糟糕的免稅代碼——它提供的稅務(wù)減免有助于富人儲蓄，對中產(chǎn)階級的民眾卻無多大幫助。讓每個工作的美國人都能自動擁有“個人退休金賬戶(IRA)”，這樣他們就可以跟在場的各位一樣為退休儲蓄。由于很多家庭進(jìn)行的最重要的投資就是他們的家，因此我們要通過立法，確保納稅人不再為住房危機(jī)埋單，讓美國未來的世世代代保持著擁有住房的夢想。

One last point on financial security. For decades, few things exposed hard-working families to economic hardship more than a broken health care system. And in case you haven't heard, we're in the process of fixing that.

關(guān)于財政保障我再提最后一點。數(shù)十年來，沒有什么會比一個失敗的醫(yī)保體制更能讓勤勞努力的家庭陷入經(jīng)濟(jì)困難的境地。如果你們還不清楚情況的話，那么我告訴你們，我們正在修復(fù)這個體制。

A pre-existing condition used to mean that someone like Amanda Shelley, a physician assistant and single mom from Arizona, couldn't get health insurance. But on January 1st, she got covered. On January 3rd, she felt a sharp pain. On January 6th, she had emergency surgery. Just one week earlier, Amanda said, that surgery would've meant bankruptcy.

“已有疾病情況”指的就是像阿曼達(dá)•謝莉這一類人，她是亞利桑那州的一名醫(yī)師助理，也是一位單親媽媽，原先沒有健康保險。但是1月1日，她有了醫(yī)保。1月3日，她感覺到一陣疼痛。1月6日，她接受了緊急手術(shù)。一周前，她說如果沒有保險，那次手術(shù)就會意味著破產(chǎn)。

That's what health insurance reform is all about - the peace of mind that if misfortune strikes, you don't have to lose everything.

所以這就是為什么要進(jìn)行醫(yī)保改革，這樣不幸降臨時你就能平常心面對，你也不用失去一切。

Already, because of the Affordable Care Act, more than 3 million Americans under age 26 have gained coverage under their parents' plans.

現(xiàn)在，由于平價醫(yī)療法案，300多萬26歲以下的年輕人加入了父母的醫(yī)療保險計劃。