华盛顿——来自弗吉尼亚州的共和党众议员罗布·威特曼并不认为总统唐纳德·特朗普在伊朗采取的军事行动是一场“战争”。
WASHINGTON — Rob Wittman, a Republican congressman from Virginia, doesn’t think of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran as a war.
“目前我们只是在保护驻伊的美方资产，因此眼下并不存在战争，”威特曼在主持完国会大厦的一场形式性众议院会议后对《赫芬顿邮报》说道。“我们正在对伊朗实施制裁，同时也会在海湾地区保护自身安全，我们的目标是尽快结束这场冲突。”威特曼试图淡化这场被总统本人也称之为“战争”的冲突的重要性，这一举动恰恰反映出在11月中期选举前夕，该冲突给共和党人带来的政治难题。
“Right now we are defending U.S. assets there, so there is no war as we speak,” Wittman told HuffPost after presiding over a “pro forma” House session at the Capitol. “There are sanctions that are being placed upon Iran, and we will defend ourselves there in the Gulf, and we want to make sure that we’re bringing this to a conclusion.”Wittman’s attempt to downplay the significance of the war in Iran — which the president himself routinely refers to as a war — shows the political problem the conflict poses for Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.
这场冲突导致汽油价格飙升，选民们怨声载道，这对像威特曼这样的共和党人构成了威胁——他所代表的选区是特朗普仅以5个百分点的优势才赢得的，如今他正面临一位实力强劲的民主党对手的挑战。
The war has shot up gas prices and voters are pissed, which is endangering Republicans like Wittman, who faces a tough Democratic opponent in a district Trump won by only 5 percentage points.
临近11月选举，是否收到了大量政治宣传邮件、电话和短信？欢迎向我们讲述您的经历，并分享您收到的宣传材料照片或截图：jen.bendery@huffposm美国劳工部本周发布的数据显示，上个月美国通货膨胀率升至3.7%，较特朗普上任时水平显著上升。其中汽油价格上涨对9月份消费者价格指数整体上升的贡献率超过一半。而上个月美国工人的工资涨幅仅为3%，这意味着通货膨胀实际上正在侵蚀劳动者的实际收入。
Drowning in political mailers, calls and text messages ahead of the November elections? Tell us about it ― and share a photo or screenshot of what you’re getting: jen.bendery@huffposm Inflation last month surged to 3.7%, up significantly from when Trump took office, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week, saying the increase in gas prices accounted for more than half of the overall rise of the consumer price index for September. Wages rose only 3% last month, meaning inflation is essentially diminishing workers’ pay.
“这全都与燃油价格有关，所以我们必须想办法降低它，”威特曼说。“我们必须在美国生产更多燃料。我们正在生产创纪录数量的石油。我们没有足够的炼油能力，所以想明白我们需要做什么并不难。关键是生产更多柴油、更多汽油。我们可以做到。我们需要建造新的炼油厂。”威特曼远非唯一试图将高燃油价格的责任从共和党领袖身上转移开的共和党人。周二，安迪·哈里斯众议员（共和党-马里兰州）试图将责任推给民主党。
“It’s all about fuel prices, so we have to look at ways we can reduce that,” Wittman said. “We have to produce more fuel in the United States. We are producing record amounts of oil. We don’t have refining capacity, so it’s not a rocket science figuring out what we need to do. It’s about producing more diesel fuel, more gasoline. We can do that. We need to build new refineries.”Wittman is far from the only Republican looking to deflect blame from the leader of the Republican Party for high fuel prices. On Tuesday, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) tried to blame it on Democrats.
“事实是：柴油价格上涨了。这一点毫无疑问。为什么上涨？因为民主党的环境法规，”哈里斯说，随即被观众嘲笑的笑声淹没。
“The facts are: Diesel prices have gone up. There’s no question about it. Why has it gone up? Because the Democrats have environmental regulations,” Harris said, before being drowned out by mocking laughter from the audience.
即使是总统也承认，伊朗对霍尔木兹海峡航运的报复性袭击已经限制了全球石油供应，从而推高了汽油和柴油价格。特朗普周三声称战争很快就会结束——他自2月对伊朗发动袭击以来已多次这样说——并且还说，无论如何，霍尔木兹这个关键海峡正在输送大量石油。
Even the president has acknowledged Iran’s retaliatory attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have constricted the global oil supply, thereby pushing up prices for gas and diesel. Trump claimed Wednesday the war will end soon, which he’s said dozens of times since launching attacks on Iran in February, and also that there’s plenty of oil coming out of the critical Strait of Hormuz anyway.
“价格都在下降，而且这场战争很快就会结束——顺便说一句，很快，非常快——但战争结束后，价格将会……现在本应该低得多，因为我们正在获得大量石油，”特朗普在亚利桑那州的一次集会上说。“我的意思是，战争前的那种数字正从海峡中输出。”威特曼的民主党对手香农·泰勒在挑战这位连任九届的现任议员的过程中，一直强调反腐败信息。但泰勒——作为人口稠密的里士满郊区亨里科县的首席检察官——也批评威特曼投票反对结束战争的象征性决议。
“The prices are all coming down and when this war ends — it’s going to end very soon, by the way, very soon — but when the war ends the prices are going to ― they should be much lower now because we are getting tremendous amounts of oil,” Trump said at a rally in Arizona. “I mean, numbers like you had before the war are coming out of the strait.”Wittman’s Democratic opponent, Shannon Taylor, has highlighted an anti-corruption message in her quest to unseat the nine-term incumbent. But Taylor, who serves as the top prosecutor in the populous Richmond suburb of Henrico County, has also faulted Wittman for voting against symbolic resolutions to end the war.
“罗布·威特曼有六次机会可以终止这一局面，但他六次都投了反对票，”泰勒上个月在社交媒体上说道。“如今，弗吉尼亚州的农民、卡车司机以及普通家庭都在为此付出代价。”
“Six times, Rob Wittman had a chance to end it. And six times, he voted no,” Taylor said on social media last month. “And now, farmers, truckers, and families across Virginia are paying the price.”