Unemployment-insurance (UI) benefits first passed in 2008 and extended severa

游客2024-01-31  15

问题    Unemployment-insurance (UI) benefits first passed in 2008 and extended several times. America’s government has enacted such measures in every recession since 1957. The most recent extension expired on December 28th, leaving roughly 1. 3m Americans suddenly cut off and setting the stage for a huge political battle early in 2014.
   Republicans principally object to the extension’s cost—around $25 billion over the next two years. Some point out that supplemental UI benefits have been in place longer and paid out more than in past recessions. Of course, one reason for this is that a far larger share of Americans remains out of work now than when the recession began. In November 2013 America’s unemployment rate was 7. 0% , still a full two points higher than its 5% level when the recession began in December 2007. There remain roughly three applicants for every open job. Even so, Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky, says that extending UI benefits causes workers "to become part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy" and "actually does a disservice to the people you’re trying to help." Not extending benefits will probably cause the unemployment rate to drop.
   Unlike some other economic stimuli, these benefits tend to get spent quickly on consumer goods. Mr. Obama has proposed several policies aimed at helping the long-term unemployed. One would set up a National Infrastructure Bank and spend $ 40 billion on deferred-maintenance repairs. Another, the Community College to Career Fund Act, would award grants to educational institutions and state and local governments for better job-training programmes. Congress has not approved them. In 2010 it passed a payroll-tax exemption for employers who hire the unemployed; this has since expired.
   Yet there is not much hope for improvement in America’s polarized atmosphere. Instead, Congress will begin the new year by once again debating UI benefits. House Democrats have introduced legislation to extend benefits for three months, paid for by trimming farm subsidies. [br] Which of the following is the policy that is aimed to help the long-term unemployed but not approved by Congress?

选项 A、Job-training programmes.
B、A payroll-tax exemption.
C、Introduced legislation to extend benefits for three months.
D、Trimming farm subsidies.

答案 A

解析 该题应定位至文章第三段,注意题目要求选出国会未通过的政策。第三段指出,一是成立联邦基础设施银行,投入400亿美元用于递延维修;二是通过社区大学就业法案,旨在帮助教育机构、联邦以及州政府建立更好的就业指导项目。但国会没有通过奥巴马总统的提议(Congress has not approved them)。因此正确答案是A。
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