首页
登录
职称英语
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was
游客
2023-12-15
45
管理
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. [br] How much will the prescription drug benefit cost per year?
选项
A、$40 billion.
B、$180 billion.
C、$400 billion.
D、$500 billion.
答案
A
解析
这项处方药优惠方案每年耗资多少?第二段末指出该处方药优惠方案10年将耗资4000亿。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3275573.html
相关试题推荐
"Ido."ToAmericansthosetwowordscarrygreatmeaning.Theycanevenchange
"Ido."ToAmericansthosetwowordscarrygreatmeaning.Theycanevenchange
[originaltext]TheFoodandAgricultureOrganizationsaysitexpectsanotherd
[originaltext]TheFoodandAgricultureOrganizationsaysitexpectsanotherd
[originaltext]U.S.congressmanandformerentertainerSonnyBonohasdiedin
AtraditionalfoodenjoyedbyAmericansduringThanksgivingDayis______.A、stea
"Ido."ToAmericansthosetwowordscarrygreatmeaning.Theycanevenchange
MoviesarethemostpopularformofentertainmentformillionsofAmericans
MoviesarethemostpopularformofentertainmentformillionsofAmericans
MoviesarethemostpopularformofentertainmentformillionsofAmericans
随机试题
ThenumberofpeoplewhosurftheInternetviamobiledevicesinChinahasf
在大小调中,只有主音上建立的大小三和弦是稳定和弦,其他音级上建立的三和弦都是不稳
宅基地使用权的义务主体是( )。A.农村集体经济组织 B.乡镇人民政府 C
患者35岁,因下腹痛伴阴道流血在外院诊为盆腔炎、功能失调性子宫出血,抗生素止血治
根据国务院1997年颁布的《关于建立统一的企业职工基本养老保险制度的决定》的相关
老年人由于胃酸分泌减少,会对药物的吸收造成一定影响,其中产生效应会变慢的药物是A
脓血症最具特征性的临床表现是 A.寒战后高热B.白细胞计数达20-30X109
下列关于合同设备验收的说法,正确的有()。A.合同设备在考核中达到技术性能
【背景资料】 某河道工程项目法人按照《水利水电工程标准施工招标文件》(2009
(2016年真题)根据《生产安全事故报告和调查处理条例》,关于生产安全事故等级的
最新回复
(
0
)