参议院民主党人周四推出一项法案，规定每当总统动用纳税人资金支付任何被视为政治“宣传”的事项时，即削减白宫预算办公室的经费。
A group of Senate Democrats are rolling out a bill Thursday to cut funding from the White House budget office any time a president uses taxpayer dollars to pay for anything considered political "propaganda."
该法案由华盛顿州参议员帕蒂·默里牵头，她是参议院民主党首席拨款人，除非民主党在中期选举中赢得众参两院控制权，否则该法案不太可能通过国会。
The legislation led by Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator, is unlikely to clear Congress unless Democrats win control of the House and Senate in the midterms.
但该条款最终可能被纳入年度政府拨款法案，同时也作为民主党施压共和党同僚的一种手段，针对唐纳德·特朗普总统持续利用联邦资金播放赞扬总统及其对伊朗强硬立场的竞选风格广告。默里在声明中说：“国会不能袖手旁观。”
她指出，两党议员近日均表示反对特朗普政府辩称为“公共服务公告”的纳税人资助广告。
But the language could eventually be included in annual government funding bills and serves in the meantime as a way for Democrats to press their GOP counterparts on President Donald Trump's ongoing use of federal funding to air campaign-style ads commending the president and his offensive against Iran. “Congress cannot sit on its hands,” Murray said in a statement, noting that lawmakers in both parties have said in recent days that they oppose the taxpayer-funded ads the Trump administration is defending as "public service announcements."
该法案规定，每当政府违反现有法律禁止使用联邦资金用于“宣传或宣传目的”时，管理和预算办公室的预算将被削减2000万美元。政府问责局局长将负责认定是否发生此类违规。
The bill would dock the budget of the Office of Management and Budget by $20 million every time an administration violates existing law barring the use of federal funds for "publicity or propaganda purposes." The head of the Government Accountability Office would be charged with determining if such a violation has occurred.