民主党人正将自己塑造为应对美国民众所面临经济困境的解决方案，以此在争夺国会控制权的过程中占据优势，但他们却屡次阻挠共和党解决生活成本问题的尝试。
Democrats are pitching themselves as the answer to the economic woes Americans are facing in their pursuit of power in Congress, but they have made a habit of blocking the GOP’s attempts to tackle cost of living issues.
随着11月大选日的临近，可负担性已成为民主党竞选信息的核心，他们将其作为政治武器，从密歇根州到得克萨斯州的左翼候选人纷纷借此对共和党人施压。
Affordability has become the centerpiece of the Democrats' campaign messaging heading into Election Day in November, and they’ve wielded it like a political cudgel that left-wing candidates from Michigan to Texas are using to browbeat Republicans.
然而，在参议院，解决这些问题需要合作与妥协，而共和党人表示，跨党派的民主党同僚一直在破坏这一进程。周三，他们还将有最后一次机会，通过一项针对数据中心和选民钱包的法案来解决该问题的一小部分，但纽约州民主党参议员、参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默及其党团正准备予以阻挠。
But in the Senate, it requires cooperation and compromise to tackle those issues, and Republicans say that their colleagues across the aisle have bedeviled that process. They’ll have one last shot Wednesday to address a sliver of the issue with a bill targeting data centers and voters' pocketbooks, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus are poised to block it.
“我认为目前的情况就是，你们知道，在所有这些问题上玩政治，直到选举结束，”参议院多数党领袖、南达科他州共和党参议员约翰·图恩告诉福克斯新闻数字版。“我认为，你们看到的是，这是一个说‘不’的政党，无法接受‘是’的答案，并且有兴趣在选举前将一切政治化。”
FIRST DATA CENTER BILL CLEARS HOUSE AS BOTH PARTIES SCRAMBLE FOR ANSWERS ON AFFORDABILITY "I think right now, the whole thing is just, you know, play politics with all these issues and get to the election," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital. "I think that, you know, what you're seeing is that this is the party of no, can't take yes for an answer, and is interested in just trying to politicize everything going into the election."
当被问及阻挠数据中心法案以及另一项禁止国会议员进行股票交易的法案，是否会扭转民主党在可负担性议题上的叙事时，图恩表示：“嗯，这让民主党很难提出那种论点。”民主党人并不认为阻挠俄亥俄州共和党参议员乔恩·赫斯特提出的这项法案会损害他们的可负担性信息，特别是因为该法案缺乏约束力——对于数据中心等大型负荷用户偿还其用电量的许多要求都是可选的。
When asked if blocking the data center bill, and another that would ban members of Congress from trading stocks, could turn the table on Democrats’ messaging, Thune said "Well, it makes it pretty hard for Democrats to make that argument." Democrats don’t believe that blocking the bill from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, would hurt their affordability message, particularly because the legislation lacks teeth — many of the requirements for large-load customers, like data centers, to repay their electricity usage are optional.
舒默抨击这项数据中心法案纯粹是出于政治动机，旨在为一位在11月面临严峻选战、对阵前参议员谢罗德·布朗的脆弱候选人造势，尽管本月早些时候众议院仅有三名民主党人投了反对票。
Schumer trashed the data center bill as being purely politically motivated to bolster a vulnerable candidate staring down a tough race in November against former Sen. Sherrod Brown, even though only three House Democrats voted against it earlier this month.
对新兴选举议题的焦虑日益增长，但共和党人表示华盛顿并非解决之道。“因为我们不为欺诈行为投票，”当被问及参议院民主党人为何不投票支持该法案时，舒默说道。“它是自愿的。没有一家公司必须遵守它。”康涅狄格州民主党参议员克里斯·墨菲告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，如果“你们这些人做好本职工作，解释清楚该法案毫无作用”，那么这对民主党人的政治影响将微乎其微。
ANXIETY GROWS OVER EMERGING ELECTION ISSUE, BUT GOP SAYS WASHINGTON ISN'T THE ANSWER "Because we don't vote for frauds," Schumer said when asked why Senate Democrats wouldn't vote for it. "It's voluntary. Not a single company has to comply with it." Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital that if "you guys do your job and explain that the the bill does nothing," the political ramifications would be low for Democrats.
“它什么都没做，所以人们知道这一点，但这对他们来说比对我们有更大的政治风险，”墨菲说。
"It does nothing, and so people know that, but there's more political risk for them than for us," Murphy said.
当被问及是否担心否决该法案会削弱他们在竞选活动中最有力的武器时，新泽西州民主党参议员安迪·金告诉福克斯新闻数字频道：“绝对不会。”“美国人民能够看穿这背后的政治算计。他们知道这项法案对休斯顿参议员有利，但不一定对他们有利，因为它并没有包含任何能够真正推动变革的内容，”金说道。
When asked if there was a concern that shutting the bill down could hamper their best weapon on the campaign trail, Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., told Fox News Digital, "Absolutely not." "The American people can see through just the politics of this. They know that this bill is good for Senator Husted, but not necessarily for them, because it's not — it doesn't have anything that would actually force change," Kim said.
共和党人担心在期中选举清算前“什么都没做”来降低物价。然而，并非所有民主党人都希望彻底扼杀共和党最新的负担能力推动计划。
REPUBLICANS FEAR THEY ‘HAVEN’T DONE A DAMN THING’ TO LOWER PRICES AHEAD OF MIDTERM RECKONING Not all Democrats want to outright kill the GOP’s latest affordability push, however.
马里兰州民主党参议员克里斯·范·霍伦并不完全反对让该立法继续推进，但他希望图恩能做出保证，即他的法案《人民电力法案》能够获得修正案投票，从而为该措施增加一些监管力度。
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., isn’t totally against allowing the legislation to proceed, but he wants a guarantee from Thune that his bill, the Power for the People Act, would get an amendment vote to add some regulatory heft to the measure.
“如果你想解决负担能力问题，就必须采取切实行动，”范霍伦在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时表示。“只要图恩参议员说他会就《人民能源法案》进行投票，那么我们当然应该推进。”这并非民主党人在中期选举前夕搁置或至少阻挠的唯一一项旨在解决负担能力问题的尝试。
"You want to address the affordability issue, you need to do something real," Van Hollen told Fox News Digital. "As soon as Senator Thune says he'll have a vote on Power for the People Act, then for sure, we should go forward." It’s not the only attempt at grappling with affordability issues that Democrats have sunk, or at least kneecapped, near the finish line before the midterms.
共和党领导人本希望在选举前的最后冲刺阶段，就许可改革达成协议，这将降低能源项目的成本并全面改革监管流程，但民主党人上周退出了该协议。
Republican leaders wanted to get a deal on permitting reform, which would lower costs on energy projects and reform the regulatory process writ large, on the floor during this final sprint before the election, but Democrats walked away from the deal last week.
“我想说，我认为达成这项协议的所有化学反应都是完美的，”一直主导许可改革推动工作的俄克拉荷马州共和党参议员艾伦·阿姆斯特朗在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时说。“在如此复杂的问题上，这种情况并不常见。所以这非常令人失望。”据报道，该协议已重新提上日程，但在选举结束前不会处理，而是留待国会的“跛脚鸭”时期。届时，许多被推迟的议程项目可能永远无法见天日。
"I would tell you, all the chemistry, I think, was perfect for getting this deal done," Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-Okla., who has led the permitting reform push told Fox News Digital. "And that doesn't happen very often on such a complex issue. So it's very disappointing." The deal is reportedly back on, but won’t be handled until after the election during Congress’ lame duck period, where several agenda items have been punted that may never see the light of day.
尽管如此，共和党人在选举后仍需要民主党人的配合才能完成任何工作，而他们在过去近两年控制参议院期间，两党合作的记录一直起伏不定。
Still, Republicans will need Democrats to get anything post-election, and the track record of bipartisanship over the near two years that they’ve controlled the chamber has ebbed and flowed.
“我的意思是，我们有53名共和党人，但你需要60票。我早就该打破阻挠议事了，那样我们本可以完成更多工作，”阿拉巴马州共和党参议员汤米·塔伯维尔在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时说。“但我们浪费了特朗普总统的一年半时间。”
"I mean, we got 53 Republicans, you got to have 60. I’d have busted the filibuster a long time ago and we would've had a lot more done," Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital. "But we wasted a year and a half of President Trump."