首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was a federal plan to help the elderly pay for prescrip
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was a federal plan to help the elderly pay for prescrip
admin
2011-03-10
49
问题
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was a federal plan to help the elderly pay for prescription drugs. It is a promise that has been made again and again--in particularly high decibels during the last presidential election. The House and Senate have passed bills, and although both are flawed, this page has urged Congress to finish work on them as a first step toward fulfilling this longstanding commitment.
Unfortunately, things have changed. The government cannot afford the program now. That is the fault of President Bush and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. They broke the bank with their enormous tax cuts. The country is facing the largest budget deficit in history, and there is no realistic plan for getting it under control. The limited version of a prescription drug benefit now being considered in Congress would cost about $400 billion over 10 years.
Older Americans had a right to expect that help, but they do not have a right to demand it, not when it would be financed by borrowing, with the bills to be paid by their grandchildren.
Mr. Bush, a specialist in pain avoidance, told people that they could have the programs they wanted prescription drugs for the elderly, better schools for children along with modest tax cuts for the middle class and whoppers for the wealthy. When 9/11 occurred, the president simply added the war on terror, and then the war on Saddam Hussein, to the list. For all his talk about fiscal conservatism, Mr. Bush has never vetoed a spending bill, even the obscene $ 180 billion farm subsidy program. To pay for it all, he simply increased the deficit.
Deficits in and of themselves are not necessarily a problem, but the current one is frightening for two reasons. One is its size: projected at well above $500 billion for next year, and approaching 5 percent of the gross domestic product. The Other is its permanence. Cutting taxes temporarily to fight the recession made sense, but the Bush tax cuts are meant to be permanent even though Congress gave most of them a phony 10- year expiration date in an attempt to mask their effect.
Dropping the proposal is, of course, just what a large chunk of the Republican Party was hoping for all along. For those Republicans, deficits are a useful tool to beat back popular entitlement programs--a "starve the beast" strategy, in the words of Ronald Reagan’s budget director. Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, rail against the deficit, but they are still pushing for the prescription drug plan. Like the tax-cutters, they are simply building up to some sort of financial Armageddon like soaring interest rates or a collapsing dollar and hoping that blame will fall on the other party.
Our answer is different. The people have to decide whether they want tax cuts or programs like the prescription drug plan. It’s true that the tax-cut radicals will win this round. But then we will have an election.
According to the passage, ______ will be the victim of the tax-cut.
选项
A、President Bush
B、the Republican
C、the Democrats
D、elderly Americans
答案
D
解析
按照本文的观点,谁将成为减税的牺牲品。因减税导致预算赤字增加,老年人想得到处方药优惠的希望就会化为泡影。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/3tYO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Americansoftentrytosaythingsasquicklyaspossible,soforsomeexpressionsweusethefirstlettersofthewordsinstead
Americansoftentrytosaythingsasquicklyaspossible,soforsomeexpressionsweusethefirstlettersofthewordsinstead
IftherewasonethingAmericanshadarighttoexpectfromCongress,itwasafederalplantohelptheelderlypayforprescrip
IftherewasonethingAmericanshadarighttoexpectfromCongress,itwasafederalplantohelptheelderlypayforprescrip
Themusicindustry,hurtbyadeclineinCDsalesandthecontinuedfreeswappingoffilesontheInternet,tookthedrasticact
TobroadentheirvotingappealinthePresidentialelectionof1796,theFederalistsselectedThomasPinckney,aleadingSouthC
Zambia’scopperindustry,whichonlylastyearstillboastedarosyfuture,seemstobestaggeringtowardsarathergloomierend
Computers,andespeciallyconnectingtotheInternet,provideuniqueopportunitiestoenhancescienceandmatheducation.Tak
Computers,andespeciallyconnectingtotheInternet,provideuniqueopportunitiestoenhancescienceandmatheducation.Tak
随机试题
下列药物中哪项是至宝丹而不是安宫牛黄丸的组成药物
A.由县以上人民政府卫生行政部门吊销其执业证书B.由县以上人民政府卫生行政部门给予警告或者责令暂停六个月以上一年以下执业活动C.依照法律或者国家有关规定处理D.由县以上人民政府卫生行政部门予以取缔,没收其违法所得及其药品、器械,并处以十万元以下
男,30岁。双侧髁突高位骨折且有前牙开验。后牙早接触,治疗上宜选用
下列何种表现不是寒邪的致病特点
在众人聚集的闹市,对犯人执行砍头并与众弃之的传统死刑执行方法称为:()
目前主要的地价管理政策有()。
下列经济业务的相关会计处理中,正确的有()。
用换元法解方程时,若设x2+x=y,则原方程化为()。
下列选项中,不属于文革中对“左”倾错误进行纠正的是()
Tomenjoyedgoingtothemovies.Helikedtosit______.Itseemedthatthedogcouldunderstandthefilm,didn’tit?
最新回复
(
0
)