[ti:Biden Signs $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Spending Plan]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]American President Joe Biden signed into law Monday
[00:04.52]a $1.2 trillion spending plan
[00:07.88]to provide money for a wide group of purposes.
[00:12.80]They include developing roads, bridges, ports,
[00:17.52]transportation, water projects, internet service
[00:22.04]and other things across the United States.
[00:26.64]Speaking from the White House in Washington, D.C. Biden said,
[00:32.00]"For too long, we’ve talked about having the best economy in the world.
[00:37.20]We’ve talked about asserting American leadership around the world
[00:41.72]with the best and safest roads, railways, ports,
[00:46.84]and airports... today, we are finally getting it done.”
[00:53.28]Biden thanked Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio
[00:57.88]and Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona
[01:02.44]for their work to get bipartisan support for the bill.
[01:08.12]In order to reach the deal in a divided Congress, Biden
[01:12.32]had to reduce his spending request of $2.3 trillion by more than half.
[01:19.36]The $1.2 trillion spending plan
[01:22.56]will be partly paid for by using $210 billion
[01:27.20]in COVID-19 aid that was not spent
[01:30.64]and $53 billion in unemployment aid money that was not released.
[01:37.68]The Biden administration called the law a historic investment
[01:42.16]and compared it to the building of the transcontinental railroad
[01:46.28]and the Interstate Highway System.
[01:50.20]The legislation will provide $110 billion
[01:54.32]to repair the country’s aging highways, bridges and roads.
[01:59.40]The Biden administration said nearly 280,000 kilometers
[02:05.20]of America’s highways and major roads
[02:08.52]and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition.
[02:13.96]The legislation will give $66 billion to improve Amtrak rail service.
[02:21.08]There will be $39 billion to fix thousands of kilometers
[02:26.00]of public transportation railways
[02:28.92]and expand other transportation systems.
[02:33.52]The law also aims to improve accessibility for people with disabilities.
[02:41.16]There will also be money for state and local governments
[02:45.28]to buy new zero- and low-emission buses.
[02:50.84]The law calls for spending $7.5 billion
[02:54.88]on electric vehicle charging stations.
[02:58.32]The Biden administration says this will increase
[03:02.04]the use of electric vehicles to limit climate change.
[03:07.28]It will also provide $5 billion for buying electric school buses
[03:13.00]and hybrids which run on both electricity and gasoline.
[03:19.44]The legislation’s $65 billion for broadband service
[03:24.28]aims to improve internet services for rural areas,
[03:28.72]low-income families and tribal communities.
[03:34.84]To protect against electrical power outages
[03:38.04]that have become common in recent years,
[03:40.88]the law calls for spending $65 billion
[03:44.76]to upgrade the nation’s power system.
[03:48.68]It will also provide money for carbon capture technologies
[03:53.28]and clean electricity production.
[03:57.76]The law approves spending $25 billion
[04:01.60]to improve airport runways and structures.
[04:05.88]It will also be used for updated passenger areas
[04:10.40]and air traffic control centers.
[04:14.56]Fifty-five billion dollars are aimed at water
[04:18.08]and wastewater infrastructure systems.
[04:21.44]Infrastructure is a word for the many structures
[04:25.36]and systems needed to operate a country.
[04:30.48]The law includes $15 billion to replace lead pipes
[04:35.48]and $10 billion to deal with polluted water.
[04:40.80]The $1.2 trillion spending plan is about one-twentieth
[04:45.40]the size of the United States’ GDP in 2020.
[04:51.20]The GDP is the measure of the total value of goods
[04:55.36]and services in the country.
[04:59.20]But, it is much larger than the GDP of many countries,
[05:03.88]including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Thailand and Nigeria.
[05:11.88]American experts welcomed the deal.
[05:15.28]But they said $1 trillion was not enough to take care of
[05:19.80]and update the nation’s infrastructure.
[05:23.76]Yale University economist Ray Fair
[05:27.08]said there has been a sharp decrease in infrastructure spending
[05:31.68]as a percentage of the U.S. economy starting in 1970.
[05:37.92]He wrote in September that the new infrastructure spending plan
[05:42.44]only covered about 10 percent of the $5.2 trillion he said is needed.
[05:49.88]“The bottom line is that the current infrastructure bill
[05:53.64]is quite modest,” Fair said.
[05:57.24]David Van Slyke is head of the Maxwell School of Citizenship
[06:01.80]and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York.
[06:07.36]He told the Associated Press,
[06:09.80]“This is not going to solve our infrastructure problems
[06:13.28]across the nation.”
[06:16.08]I’m Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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