特朗普总统正在尽其所能赢得不满选民的青睐，以期在中期选举中获胜 — — 包括承诺发放资金。周三晚上，他在圣安东尼奥发表讲话时重申了他的承诺：如果共和党在众议院和参议院保持微弱多数，他将向每位成年美国人发放5000美元。持怀疑态度的人对这一提议嗤之以鼻，指出特朗普此前关于通过关税收入和政府效率部节省资金发放支票的承诺均未兑现。
President Trump is doing everything he can to win favor with a dissatisfied electorate before the midterms — including promising money. Speaking in San Antonio on Wednesday evening, Trump repeated his pledge to send $5,000 to every adult American if the GOP retains its narrow majorities in the House and the Senate. Skeptics roll their eyes at the proposal, noting that previous Trump promises about checks purportedly garnered from tariff revenue and Department of Government Efficiency savings failed to materialize.
如果民主党仅仅赢得众议院多数席位，特朗普的承诺也将变得毫无意义。两党政治内部人士的共识是，民主党高有可能实现这一点。尽管如此，特朗普向圣安东尼奥的人群承诺，如果共和党实现双赢，选民们可以“放心”这些支票就会到账。民主党人认为特朗普的策略既不严肃也不有效。“在某些地方可能有影响，但在大多数地方不会，”民主党策略师汉克·申科普对本栏目表示。
Trump’s promise would also become moot if Democrats merely win a majority in the House. The consensus among political insiders in both parties is that they are highly likely to do so. Nevertheless, voters can “count on it” that the checks would arrive if the GOP pulled off a double-victory, Trump promised the crowd in San Antonio. Democrats don’t see the Trump tactic as either serious or effective. “In some places it might matter, but in most places it won’t,” Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf told this column.
“在共和党本应表现良好的地方，他们如今正遭受重创。要让人们改变主意，需要发放大量支票。”申科普还指出，自特朗普一个月前在达拉斯的共和党中期大会上首次提出这一想法以来，他一直经常重申这一承诺。在此期间，许多民意调查对共和党的前景变得越来越黯淡。“人们知道他们[据说]将获得这些支票，但这并未让他们的投票回归共和党阵营，”申科普指出。
“In places where Republicans should do well, they’re being clobbered right now. It would take a lot of checks for people to change their minds.”Sheinkopf also noted that Trump has been making the promise often since he first unveiled the idea at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas a month ago. Many opinion polls have grown bleaker for Republicans during that time. “People know they are [supposedly] getting the checks, and it hasn’t moved their votes back into the Republican column,” Sheinkopf noted.
尽管如此，5000美元支票的提议只是特朗普和共和党所希望用来让选民更接受其候选人的一揽子福利计划中的一支箭。一项计划已经启动，将向超过2000万参加医疗保险B部分的人员发放90美元付款。在另一项举措中，近100万人正在收到500美元的支票，据说这是因为他们在《平价医疗法案》（ACA）条款下被多收了费用。
Still, the $5,000 check proposal is just one arrow in a quiver of giveaways Trump and the GOP are surely hoping will make voters more receptive to their candidates. A plan is already in motion sending $90 payments to more than 20 million people enrolled in Medicare Part B. In a separate move, almost 1 million people are receiving $500 checks, purportedly because they were overcharged under the terms of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). There is a whole separate debate about the use of public money in a different way: to fund a series of Trump-centric TV ads.
关于公共资金使用方式的另一场独立争论：用于资助一系列以特朗普为中心的电视广告。面对公众反弹，特朗普周一承诺，未来的广告将由他本人或其主要超级政治行动委员会支付费用。但白宫已排除对已用于这些广告的资金进行报销的可能——据《纽约时报》估算，该费用超过1100万美元。民主党全国委员会正就此事提起诉讼。
Amid public backlash, Trump on Monday promised future ads would be paid for by him or his main super PAC. But the White House has ruled out reimbursements for money already spent on the ads — which The New York Times estimated as more than $11 million. The Democratic National Committee is suing over the matter. Trump has vigorously defended the payments related to Medicare and the ACA.
特朗普一直坚决为与医疗保险和《平价医疗法案》相关的付款进行辩护。他在上周晚些时候通过社交媒体宣布90美元的医疗保险相关付款时写道，这笔钱旨在“帮助支付[受益人的]医疗保险B部分保费，而我们已经大幅降低了这些保费。”他补充说，这笔钱将来自医疗保险改进基金，他曾将其称为“无意义的‘�ush基金’”。
Announcing the $90 Medicare-related payments in a social media post late last week, Trump wrote that the money was intended “to help pay for [recipients’] Medicare Part B premiums, which we have already reduced by significant amounts.”He added that the money would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which he derided as “a pointless ‘Slush Fund.’”A separate fact sheet from the White House said the fund “has been given $2 billion by Congress for the purposes of making improvements to the Medicare fee-for-service program, but has never before been utilized.”
白宫的一份独立事实说明称，该基金“曾获得国会拨款20亿美元，用于改革医疗保险按服务收费项目，但此前从未被使用过。”至于与《平价医疗法案》相关的500美元付款，寄出的支票将附带特朗普的一封信。《希尔报》看到的信件副本写道：“多年来，拜登政府一直多收你的钱来资助HealthCare.gov的运营。这笔钱属于勤劳的美国人，而非政府，现在我将它归还给你！”
As for the $500 payments relating to the Affordable Care Act, mailed checks are to be accompanied by a letter from Trump. A copy of the letter seen by The Hill stated: "For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov. That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now I am returning it to you!”
白宫一直在反驳关于这些行为伦理问题的质疑，或它们是否构成选举活动。一位发言人最近对NPR表示，此类攻击“是脱离实际的批评。”一些伦理专家强调，特朗普的并非所有努力都完全相同。理查德·佩恩特（Richard Painter）曾在前总统乔治·W·布什政府期间担任白宫首席伦理律师，他断言，纳税人资助的以特朗普为中心的电视广告“肯定越过了界限。那些是非法的。”
The White House has pushed back against questions about the ethics of these actions, or whether they amount to electioneering. A spokesperson recently asserted to NPR that such lines of attack were “out-of-touch criticism.”Some ethics experts emphasize that not all of Trump’s efforts are quite the same. Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer during former President George W. Bush’s administration, asserted that the taxpayer-funded Trump-centric TV ads “definitely crossed the line. Those were illegal. Those were propaganda.”
那些都是宣传。”但Painter还将在共和党中期选举获胜时发放5000美元支票的承诺描述为“一个愚蠢的承诺”，而不是一个非法的承诺——尽管他怀疑总统能否获得国会批准这样一笔意外之财。他对医疗保险和《平价医疗法案》相关付款似乎更为放松。“选举前夕的重大公告在政治中很常见，”他说。“政客们喜欢在四月向你征税，然后在十月和十一月花你的钱。”但其他人持更为批判的看法。
But Painter also characterized the pledge of the $5,000 checks in the event of a GOP midterm victory as “a stupid promise” rather than an illegal one — even as he doubted that the president could get such a windfall authorized by Congress. And he seemed even more relaxed about the Medicare and ACA-related payments. “Big announcements right before Election Day are par for the course in politics,” he said. “Politicians love to tax you in April and spend your money in October and November.”But others take a far more critical view.
“根据最近的民意调查，就在可能让他失去国会的选举几周后，他暗示现在有资金可供某些类别的美国人使用，”民主捍卫者基金的伦理和反腐败首席顾问弗吉尼亚·坎特尔说。坎特尔曾任克林顿和奥巴马总统时期的白宫副法律顾问，她补充道：“这基本上表明[这些资金]旨在影响投票，以支持共和党候选人。”坎特尔还声称，鉴于国会传统上对支出拥有决定权，这些付款在法律上也存在高度可疑。
“Within weeks of the election that could cost him Congress, based on recent polling, he is suggesting monies are available now to certain categories of U.S. persons,” said Virginia Canter, chief counsel for ethics and anti-corruption at the Democracy Defenders Fund. Canter, who served as a White House associate counsel for former Presidents Clinton and Obama, added: “It basically suggests [the monies] are aimed at influencing the voting in favor of Republican candidates.”Canter also claimed the payments appeared highly questionable legally, given the traditional power of Congress over spending.
“当国会通过立法时，它是为了特定目的，任何付款都必须用于其拨款所指定的目的，”她说。“这些不在总统手中。”特朗普可预见地似乎对此毫不在意。他在本周早些时候的一段视频中重申了关于5000美元支票的承诺，并吹嘘了他的经济记录。“在共和党领导下，我们的国家发展如此之好，以至于只有我才能向你做出这个承诺，”他坚持道。《备忘录》是尼尔·斯坦纳奇撰写的一篇报道专栏。
“When Congress does enact legislation, it’s for specific purposes and any payments have to be for the purposes for which they’ve been appropriated,” she said. “It’s not in the hands of the president.”Trump, predictably, seems unbothered by all that. Reiterating his promise about the $5,000 checks in a video earlier this week, he boasted about his economic record. “Our country is doing so well under Republican leadership that only I can make you this promise,” he insisted. The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.