Obama will take a salary cut

奧巴馬主動要求減薪 與降薪員工共患難

Àobāmǎ zhǔdòng yàoqiú jiǎnxīn yǔ jiàngxīn yuángōng gòng huànnàn

Obama will take a salary cut

如果國會還不能在減少預算上達成協議,那么成千上百位政府員工就要被迫實行無薪休假了.總統奧巴馬表示將主動向財政部歸還5%的薪水,以表明與受減赤影響而停工降薪的聯邦政府職員同甘共苦.

Hundreds of thousands of workers could be forced to take unpaid leave – known as furloughs – if Congress does not reach an agreement soon to undo the cuts. Sharing a bit of budget pain, President Barack Obama will return 5 percent of his salary to the Treasury in a show of solidarity with federal workers smarting from government-wide spending cuts.

奧巴馬總統自動退薪之舉是為了證明他和其他人一樣也要付出代價,以此來表示對上個月因兩黨無法達成協議而引發的850億美元的自動減赤的警告.自動減赤機制啟動后,大約有70萬名政府工作人員每周將減少一天帶薪休假,總共持續14周.

The president is demonstrating that he will be paying a price, too, as the White House warns of dire economic consequences from the $85 billion in cuts – called a sequester – that started to hit federal programs last month after Congress failed to stop them. As many as 700,000 civilians will have to take one unpaid day off each week for up to 14 weeks in the coming months.

白宮發言人卡爾尼說,"總統和國會議員的收入都是法定的,不能改變的.但是,由于自動減赤機制的啟動,政府工作人員將會受到影響,于是總統決定和大家同甘共苦,將自己的一部分收入退回給財政部."

"The salary for the president, as with members of Congress, is set by law and cannot be changed," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said late Wednesday. "However, the president has decided that to share in the sacrifice being made by public servants across the federal government that are affected by the sequester, he will contribute a portion of his salary back to the Treasury."

奧巴馬總統的年薪為40萬美元,5%的減薪就是2萬美元.盡管到九月份這一財年就結束了,奧巴馬總統還是會上交給財政部2萬美元.

A 5 percent cut from the president's salary of $400,000 per year amounts to $20,000. Obama will return a full $20,000 to the Treasury even though only a few months remain in the fiscal year, which ends in September.

在奧巴馬總統做出減薪聲明的前一天,國防部長查克•哈格爾就承諾減少相當于14天工作的薪水.這一數字與國防部要求文職人員減薪的數量相同.

Wednesday's notice followed a similar move a day earlier by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who committed to taking a salary cut equal to 14 days' pay – the same level of cut that other Defense Department civilians are being forced to take.

奧巴馬總統不是第一位要求減薪的總統.胡佛總統曾把自己的部分薪水單獨放在一個賬戶里,然后把這筆錢分攤給慈善機構或者贈予他覺得收入過少的人.肯尼迪總統也曾把自己的總統收入捐給各種慈善團體.華盛頓總統在他軍事生涯后期曾拒絕領取薪水,他也想過拒領總統薪資,但是國會規定要付給總統2.5萬美元的報酬.

Obama isn't the first president to give up part of his paycheck. Herbert Hoover put his salary in a separate account, then divvied it up, giving part to charity and part to employees he felt were underpaid. John F. Kennedy donated his presidential salary to various charities. George Washington refused pay during the latter part of his military career. He tried to refuse a presidential salary, but Congress required that the position pay $25,000.

詞語解釋：

付出代價 （fùchū dàijià） pay a price

財政部 （cáizhèng bù） Treasury

承諾 （chéng nuò） commit to doing

(Source: myechinese.com)