丽莎·马斯卡罗（LISA MASCARO）路易斯安那州什里夫波特 — 美国众议院议长迈克·约翰逊（Mike Johnson）的选区内，共和党所谓的“宏伟法案”正以各种不同的方式呈现——从牛排馆服务员获得小费税收减免，到社区中心里人们因SNAP（补充营养援助计划）福利被削减而排队领取免费午餐。
LISA MASCARO SHREVEPORT, La. — The GOP’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is rolling out in different ways across U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s home district — from steakhouse servers getting a tax break on tips to a community center where people line up for a free hot lunch as SNAP benefits are being cut.
在路易斯安那州西北部这个充满动荡的角落，石油繁荣与萧条定义了该地区的历史。在11月大选前夕，对于忙于日常生活的选民来说，这项立法显得有些神秘。
In this rough-and-tumble corner of northwest Louisiana, where booms and busts have defined the oil rich region’s history, the legislation can be a bit of a mystery to voters going about their days ahead of the November election .
这里是唐纳德·特朗普总统的“大本营”。约翰逊在2016年特朗普首次当选总统的浪潮中进入政坛，如今他寻求第六个国会任期，目前看来并无明显连任风险。
This is President Donald Trump country, and Johnson, who rode into office on the 2016 wave that elected the president the first time, is in no apparent danger as he seeks a sixth term in Congress.
然而，在候选人论坛、数据中心开放日以及杂货店外进行的对话，勾勒出了执政党面临的严峻前景。高昂的汽油和食品价格、伊朗战争，以及对经济新常态挥之不去的不安感，都萦绕在选民心头。
But the tenor of conversations — at a candidate forum, at a data center open house, outside a grocery store — provides a snapshot of the grim outlook for the party in power. High gas and grocery prices , the war in Iran and the lingering sense of an uneasy new economic normal are all on voters’ minds.
“我记得特朗普曾说，‘今年圣诞节，你们只能买到一个玩偶’——当时我没当回事，”什里夫波特的一位律师、同时也是一名青少年母亲的凯瑟琳·弗格森（Katherine Ferguson）在最近的一次市中心社区会议后说道，“现在我明白了。”共和党人正以这项“宏伟法案”作为竞选筹码，约翰逊称其为美国历史上规模最大的减税政策。去年夏天，在众议院多数席位优势微弱的情况下，他推动该法案最终通过，这被视为一项了不起的政治成就。
“I remember when Trump said, ‘This Christmas, you’ll have one doll’ — I didn’t get it,” said Katherine Ferguson, an attorney in Shreveport and mother of a teenager, after a recent community meeting downtown. “Now I get it.” Republicans are campaigning on the big bill, what Johnson calls the largest tax cuts in American history. He hauled the package over the finish line last summer, a remarkable political achievement given the slim House majority. “This is real money for real people,” Johnson said in Washington, as lawmakers headed home to campaign.
“这是给普通民众的真金白银，”约翰逊在华盛顿表示，当时议员们正准备回乡竞选。
Louisianans on average saw an estimated $2,900 tax deduction this year, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation , largely because the bill preserved existing rates and brackets that would have otherwise expired. The boost in actual tax refunds was much less, about $350 on average nationwide.
据无党派机构税务基金会（Tax Foundation）估计，路易斯安那州民众今年平均获得了约2900美元的税收抵扣，这主要是因为该法案保留了原本即将到期的现有税率和税级。但全国范围内实际退税额的增长要少得多，平均约为350美元。
Louisianans on average saw an estimated $2,900 tax deduction this year, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation , largely because the bill preserved existing rates and brackets that would have otherwise expired. The boost in actual tax refunds was much less, about $350 on average nationwide.
从许多方面来看，这些数字本身就说明了一切。该法案总计约4万亿美元的税收减免，包括针对小费和加班费的新扣除额，以及为许多老年人和有子女家庭提供的额外福利。它还通过实施行政改革和增加工作要求，从补充营养援助计划（即SNAP）和医疗补助计划（Medicaid）中削减了超过1万亿美元的支出，预计这将导致这些计划的受益人数减少。
The numbers , in many ways, speak for themselves. The bill tallied some $4 trillion in tax breaks, including new deductions for tips and overtime pay, and enhanced benefits for many seniors and families with children. It also cut more than $1 trillion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, and Medicaid healthcare by imposing administrative changes and additional work requirements that are expected to lead to fewer people on the programs. Overall, the bill is projected to boost economic growth, but it also adds more than $3 trillion to the federal deficit over a decade.
总体而言，该法案预计将促进经济增长，但也会在十年内增加超过3万亿美元的联邦赤字。
Johnson said the GOP is “cutting wasteful government spending” and “enacting the policies to bring about economic growth.” Voters appear to be struggling to add it all up, especially as gas hits $4 a gallon and diesel has almost doubled from last year in Louisiana, topping $6.
约翰逊表示，共和党正在“削减浪费性的政府开支”，并“制定旨在实现经济增长的政策”。选民们似乎难以理清这一切，尤其是在路易斯安那州的汽油价格达到每加仑4美元，而柴油价格比去年几乎翻了一番，突破6美元的情况下。
Johnson said the GOP is “cutting wasteful government spending” and “enacting the policies to bring about economic growth.” Voters appear to be struggling to add it all up, especially as gas hits $4 a gallon and diesel has almost doubled from last year in Louisiana, topping $6.
“我不明白为什么价格这么高，”约翰逊选区的州众议员多迪·霍顿（Dodie Horton）说。她支持特朗普和众议院议长，但对价格飙升感到困惑。
“I don’t understand the high prices,” said Dodie Horton, a state representative in Johnson’s district, who is supportive of Trump and the speaker but has trouble making sense of the price spikes.
“我知道这不是总统的问题，”她说。“我的人民想知道原因。但我没有答案。”在银星烟熏屋及酒馆（Silver Star Smokehouse & Tavern）负责吧台工作的麦迪逊·麦克唐纳（Madison McDonald）表示，得益于小费收入扣除额，她今年在州税和联邦税方面总共节省了约3000美元。
“I know it’s not the president,” she said. “My people want to know why. I don’t have an answer.” Madison McDonald, in between working the bar area at the Silver Star Smokehouse & Tavern, said she’s saved about $3,000 on state and federal taxes combined this year, thanks to the tipped income deduction. The restaurant is popular with the oil and gas industry workers, and she said she once landed a $1,100 tip from a busy table — an appreciated supplement to her $2.13 hourly wage, the federal minimum.
这家餐厅深受石油和天然气行业工人的欢迎，她说她曾经从一桌忙碌的客人那里获得过1100美元的小费——这对她每小时2.13美元的联邦最低工资来说是一笔可观的补充。
“It definitely helps,” she said. “People are generous.” Up the road in Bossier Parish, where Johnson lives, Sheriff Julian C. Whittington had his staff run the numbers and found that more than 180 deputies had their taxable income reduced by an average of $1,100 thanks to the overtime deduction.
“这确实有帮助，”她说。“人们很慷慨。”在约翰逊居住的博西尔教区（Bossier Parish），警长朱利安·C·惠廷顿（Julian C. Whittington）让工作人员核算了数据，发现由于加班费扣除额，超过180名副警长的应纳税收入平均减少了1100美元。
“That’s good for them, and it’s good for the department,” he said. “Our folks are getting more money, and it doesn’t cost us any more.” Yet across the river that divides the city, with its riverfront casinos on one side and aging civic infrastructure on the other, the food aid cuts are also taking shape.
“这对他们有利，对部门也有利，”他说。“我们的人拿到更多钱了，而我们不用多花一分钱。”然而，在横贯城市的河流对岸，一边是临河赌场，另一边是老旧的市政基础设施，食品援助削减也正在成形。
Al Moore keeps the door locked as the line begins to form hours before the daily hot lunch is served at the nonprofit Christian Service, where he is executive director. Once the noon hour strikes, he begins to let people file in, about 10 or so at a time, as they take their seats.
艾尔·摩尔在每日热午餐供应前几小时就锁着门，等待排队的人群形成，他是非营利组织“基督教服务中心”的执行总监。
Calvin Ray Marshall, 59, said he was receiving about $294 per month in SNAP benefits until May, when he said he was unable to meet the new 80-hours-a-month work requirements, which now apply to those through age 64 who are able-bodied and do not have young children.
一到中午，他开始让人们分批进入，每次约10人左右，他们入座就餐。
Calvin Ray Marshall, 59, said he was receiving about $294 per month in SNAP benefits until May, when he said he was unable to meet the new 80-hours-a-month work requirements, which now apply to those through age 64 who are able-bodied and do not have young children.
59岁的卡尔文·雷·马歇尔表示，直到5月之前，他每月领取约294美元的SNAP福利（补充营养援助计划），但他说自己无法满足新的每月80小时工作要求，该要求现适用于64岁以下、身体健全且无年幼子女的成年人。
“That’s why I’m here,” he said, finishing up a plate of chicken, rice and gravy, with mixed vegetables.
“这就是我来这里的原因，”他一边吃完一盘鸡肉、米饭、肉汁和杂菜，一边说道。
He said he used to stock shelves at a mini-market and recently sought work at a new gas station. Sometimes he picks up odd jobs, cutting a yard, and he lives out of a tire repair shop where he used to help out, but that closed as business dried up during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.
他说自己曾在一家迷你超市上架商品，最近还去一家新加油站求职。有时他会接些零工，比如修剪草坪，他住在一家轮胎修理店里，以前在那里帮忙，但因新冠疫情封控导致生意枯竭，店铺倒闭了。
“For some reason, the government has always been trying to cut people off food stamps because they think people are abusing it,” said Marshall. “It seems like they think jobs are just falling out of the sky.” Johnson’s district now encompasses this area, part of a majority-Black congressional district that was eliminated after the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark voting rights case this summer.
“政府总想方设法切断人们的食品券，因为他们认为人们在滥用，”马歇尔说。“看起来他们以为工作就像从天上掉下来似的。”约翰逊的选区现在涵盖了这一地区，该地区原属一个以黑人为主的国会选区，但在今夏最高法院就一项里程碑式的投票权案件作出裁决后，该选区被取消了。
“For some reason, the government has always been trying to cut people off food stamps because they think people are abusing it,” said Marshall. “It seems like they think jobs are just falling out of the sky.” Johnson’s district now encompasses this area, part of a majority-Black congressional district that was eliminated after the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark voting rights case this summer.
午餐后，肯尼“基基”海兹拿出一份整齐的单页简历，上面列出了过往工作经历——三明治制作工、清洁工、当地酒店客房服务员。目前，海兹每月领取约100美元的SNAP福利，但他担心求职者可享有的三个月宽限期会在他找到工作前用完。
After lunch, Kenny “KeKe” Heads pulls out a resume listing past work experience — sandwich artist, janitor, housekeeper at a local hotel — on a tidy one-sheet document. For now, Heads receives about $100 a month in SNAP benefits but is worried that the three-month window available to jobseekers will lapse before he finds work.
“很艰难，”希兹说，她希望有朝一日能开一家美容院和精品店。“获得机会就像百万分之一。”根据预算与政策优先中心的数据，在法案通过后的一年里，路易斯安那州的SNAP（补充营养援助计划）受益人减少幅度仅次于亚利桑那州，与内华达州持平，减少了21%。医疗补助工作要求将于1月在大多数州开始实施。
“It’s rough,” Heads said, hopeful one day of opening a beauty salon and boutique. “Getting a chance is like one in a million.” According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Louisiana is behind only Arizona and on par with Nevada in the decline in SNAP recipients during the year since the bill passed, a 21% reduction. The Medicaid work requirements are set to begin in most states in January.
约翰逊的民主党对手之一、从英语专业学生转行当蔬菜农的康拉德·凯布尔说，他决定竞选国会议员是因为“忍无可忍”。“如果你跟加油站的人聊聊——人们都气坏了，”他说。
One of Johnson’s Democratic opponents, Conrad Cable, an English major turned vegetable farmer, said he decided to run for Congress because “enough is enough.” “If you talk to people at the gas pumps — people are pissed,” he said.
他说他从选民那里听到关于战争、负担能力、SNAP削减的抱怨——“从来没有过关于削减人们食品福利的讨论，”他说。
He said he hears from voters about the war, affordability, the SNAP cuts — “there was never any conversation about cutting people’s food benefits,” he said.
在什里夫波特一家杂货店外，70岁的诺曼·萨默斯，一名退伍海军陆战队员和退休建筑工人，支持特朗普，但正警惕地关注着伊朗战争和总统不断增长的财富。“特朗普才是让我担忧的人，”他说。
Outside a Shreveport grocery store, Norman Summers, 70, a Marine and retired construction worker, supported Trump but is warily watching the war in Iran and the president’s rising wealth. “Trump’s the one who’s bothering me,” he said.
正午阳光刺眼，律师斯科特·鲍伊推着一车瓶装水停下来，评估政治氛围。
As the afternoon sun glared, attorney Scott Bowie stopped his cart of bottled waters to assess the political mood.
作为小政府的信奉者，他希望这项共和党大法案能在削减联邦赤字方面做得更多。
A believer in small government, he wishes the big Republican bill had done more to reduce the federal deficit.
看向民主党时，“他们似乎不想要我想要的东西，”他说。“但我不是说我对共和党满意。”
When he looks to Democrats, “They don’t seem to want what I want,” he said. “But I’m not saying I’m happy with the Republicans either.”