双语新闻：奥巴马将与国会议员商讨预算问题 Obama to Talk Budget With Lawmakers

01 March, 2013

美国总统奥巴马星期五将在白宫会见共和党和民主党的国会领导人，商讨如何在最后一刻做出努力，避免在今天限期之后全面削减开支计划自动生效。

美国国会参议院星期四否决了旨在避免开支削减的相互竞争的法案，一旦星期五的最后期限过后，850亿美元的开支自动削减计划看来已经势在必行，因此奥巴马与议员们的这次会晤多半被认为属于象征性质。

奥巴马总统曾经表示，削减联邦各机构开支的影响不会立即被感受到，但将产生他称作的 "逐渐下滑 "的效应。那就是开支削减持续的时间越长，造成的损害就越大。最受到关注的是国防、基础设施经费、公立学校和学前教育等领域。

预计国防部员工将被迫接受无薪休假，同时对大型基础设施项目最终也将停止提供资金。

U.S. President Barack Obama is due to meet at the White House Friday with top Republican and Democratic lawmakers to discuss a last-ditch effort to avoid across-the-board budget cuts scheduled to take effect before the day is over.

The meeting is largely viewed as symbolic, after dueling bills to avoid the cuts were defeated in the Senate Thursday, making $85 billion in automatic spending cuts appear inevitable once the Friday deadline passes.

President Obama has said the effects of the cuts on federal agencies - most notably defense, infrastructure spending, public schools and preschool care - will not be felt immediately, but instead will have what he calls a "tumble downward" effect. That means, the longer the cuts remain in place, the worse the damage they will cause.

Defense employees are expected to be forced to take unpaid time off work, while funding for big infrastructure projects will eventually halt.