Obama will take a salary cut

奥巴马主动要求减薪 与降薪员工共患难

Àobāmǎ zhǔdòng yàoqiú jiǎnxīn yǔ jiàngxīn yuángōng gòng huànnàn

Obama will take a salary cut

如果国会还不能在减少预算上达成协议,那么成千上百位政府员工就要被迫实行无薪休假了.总统奥巴马表示将主动向财政部归还5%的薪水,以表明与受减赤影响而停工降薪的联邦政府职员同甘共苦.

Hundreds of thousands of workers could be forced to take unpaid leave – known as furloughs – if Congress does not reach an agreement soon to undo the cuts. Sharing a bit of budget pain, President Barack Obama will return 5 percent of his salary to the Treasury in a show of solidarity with federal workers smarting from government-wide spending cuts.

奥巴马总统自动退薪之举是为了证明他和其他人一样也要付出代价,以此来表示对上个月因两党无法达成协议而引发的850亿美元的自动减赤的警告.自动减赤机制启动后,大约有70万名政府工作人员每周将减少一天带薪休假,总共持续14周.

The president is demonstrating that he will be paying a price, too, as the White House warns of dire economic consequences from the $85 billion in cuts – called a sequester – that started to hit federal programs last month after Congress failed to stop them. As many as 700,000 civilians will have to take one unpaid day off each week for up to 14 weeks in the coming months.

白宫发言人卡尔尼说,"总统和国会议员的收入都是法定的,不能改变的.但是,由于自动减赤机制的启动,政府工作人员将会受到影响,于是总统决定和大家同甘共苦,将自己的一部分收入退回给财政部."

"The salary for the president, as with members of Congress, is set by law and cannot be changed," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said late Wednesday. "However, the president has decided that to share in the sacrifice being made by public servants across the federal government that are affected by the sequester, he will contribute a portion of his salary back to the Treasury."

奥巴马总统的年薪为40万美元,5%的减薪就是2万美元.尽管到九月份这一财年就结束了,奥巴马总统还是会上交给财政部2万美元.

A 5 percent cut from the president's salary of $400,000 per year amounts to $20,000. Obama will return a full $20,000 to the Treasury even though only a few months remain in the fiscal year, which ends in September.

在奥巴马总统做出减薪声明的前一天,国防部长查克•哈格尔就承诺减少相当于14天工作的薪水.这一数字与国防部要求文职人员减薪的数量相同.

Wednesday's notice followed a similar move a day earlier by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who committed to taking a salary cut equal to 14 days' pay – the same level of cut that other Defense Department civilians are being forced to take.

奥巴马总统不是第一位要求减薪的总统.胡佛总统曾把自己的部分薪水单独放在一个账户里,然后把这笔钱分摊给慈善机构或者赠予他觉得收入过少的人.肯尼迪总统也曾把自己的总统收入捐给各种慈善团体.华盛顿总统在他军事生涯后期曾拒绝领取薪水,他也想过拒领总统薪资,但是国会规定要付给总统2.5万美元的报酬.

Obama isn't the first president to give up part of his paycheck. Herbert Hoover put his salary in a separate account, then divvied it up, giving part to charity and part to employees he felt were underpaid. John F. Kennedy donated his presidential salary to various charities. George Washington refused pay during the latter part of his military career. He tried to refuse a presidential salary, but Congress required that the position pay $25,000.

词语解释：

付出代价 （fùchū dàijià） pay a price

财政部 （cáizhèng bù） Treasury

承诺 （chéng nuò） commit to doing

(Source: myechinese.com)