凯文·弗雷金 华盛顿 —— 众议院周三在退伍军人节当天通过了一揽子重大退伍军人法案 —— 但过程并非一帆风顺，伴随着混乱与争议。
KEVIN FREKING WASHINGTON — The House passed a major package of veterans bills Wednesday on Veterans Day — but not without confusion and controversy.
该法案包的核心内容，是旨在提高约 5.8 万名因战斗相关伤残而被医疗退役的退伍军人的补偿金。这一目标在国会获得了广泛的两党支持，但议员与退伍军人团体在如何实现这一目标上意见不一。
The centerpiece of the package is an effort to boost compensation for an estimated 58,000 veterans who are medically retired because of combat-related injuries. That objective has broad, bipartisan support in Congress, but lawmakers and veterans groups aren’t on the same page about how to get there.
议员们试图解决的困境在于：根据现行法律，服役不足 20 年的战斗伤残退休人员，在同时领取退伍军人事务部残疾补偿金时，须放弃部分军人退休金。两党议员均试图改变这一规定，使这些退休人员能同时领取全部伤残补偿金和军人退休金。
The dilemma lawmakers are trying to resolve is this: Under current law, combat-injured retirees with less than 20 years of service give up a portion of their military retirement pay when they also receive Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation . Lawmakers from both parties are trying to change that so that those retirees get all of their injury compensation and military retirement pay.
据国会预算办公室测算，该变更将使这部分人员的平均补偿每月增加约 1450 美元。
The change would lead to an average compensation boost of about $1,450 more per month, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
共和党提出的法案拟通过调整该部对耳鸣或睡眠呼吸暂停的评级标准，以筹措这部分退休人员收入增加所需资金。这些调整会降低部分未来退伍军人的残疾补偿金，但不会影响目前正因这两种病症领取补偿金的退伍军人。民主党绝大多数反对这种权衡做法，并在辩论中严厉抨击该法案。
Republicans brought to the floor a bill that would help pay for the income boost for those retirees by changing how the department rates tinnitus or sleep apnea . Those changes would lower disability compensation for some future veterans, though they would not affect current veterans receiving compensation for those conditions. Democrats overwhelmingly opposed that trade-off and denounced the measure as the bill was debated.
“它照顾不了退伍军人，反而从他们身上拿走福利，”加利福尼亚州民主党众议员劳尔·鲁伊斯评价共和党法案时说。
“It does not take care of veterans. It takes from them,” Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., said of the Republican bill. Republicans had to pull the bill from consideration earlier this year because they didn’t have the votes to pass it.
共和党今年早些时候曾因票数不足被迫撤回该法案。这一次，民主党领袖再次敦促本党议员反对该措施，理由是削减一群退伍军人的福利来为另一群退伍军人提供新福利，并非解决之道。
This time, Democratic leaders again encouraged their members to oppose the measure because they said cutting benefits for one group of veterans to fund new benefits for another is not the answer.
众议院议事厅里挤满了人，喧闹不已，议员们在早些时候的一次投票后彼此交谈。按照通常的议事程序，众议院书记员宣读了这项退伍军人法案的标题，随后主持会议的议员、北卡罗来纳州共和党众议员艾迪森·麦克道尔表示，众议院现在要表决的问题是法案是否通过，赞成的议员请说“赞成”，反对的议员请说“反对”。“赞成票占多数，”麦克道尔说，“法案通过。”
The House chamber was packed and noisy as lawmakers talked among themselves following an earlier vote. As is the normal course of business, the House clerk read the title of the veterans bill and then the presiding officer, Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., said the question for the House was on passage of the bill and that those in favor should say aye and those opposed should say no. “The ayes have it,” McDowell said. “The bill is passed.”
通常情况下，民主党人会插话要求进行点名表决。但这次没有人提出。共和党人则干脆把责任推给民主党人，众议院退伍军人事务委员会主席、众议员迈克·博斯特称民主党人“玩忽职守”。“如果没有人要求表决，法案就通过了，这是好事，”众议院多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯说。
Normally, Democrats would interject and ask for a roll call vote. But none came. And Republicans simply put the onus on Democrats, with Rep. Mike Bost, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, calling Democrats “asleep at the wheel.”“If nobody calls for the vote, it’s passed, which is a good thing,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
“如果他们中有几个人想表达反对意见，他们可以在退伍军人节当天到众议院议场去，明确说明他们为什么反对我们的退伍军人。但我为支持这项法案感到自豪，”斯卡利斯说，“我很高兴它通过了。”退伍军人事务委员会民主党首席议员马克·高野表示，少数党没有机会要求进行记录表决。
“If a few of them want to go voice their objections, they can go and make it clear on the House floor why they are against our veterans on Veterans Day. But I was proud to support it,” Scalise said. “I’m glad it passed.”Rep. Mark Takano, the ranking Democratic member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said there was no opportunity for the minority to ask for a recorded vote.
“其意图就是让这项法案悄悄通过，”高野说，“好吧，我只能说，我认为这是一场肤浅的、空洞的胜利，因为它在参议院不会有什么进展。”海外战争退伍军人协会全国总指挥官科里·盖斯勒在一份声明中猛烈抨击了这次口头表决。
“The intention was to sneak this through,” Takano said. “Well, all I can say is, I think it’s a shallow, a hollow victory because it will go nowhere in the Senate.”Cory Geisler, the national commander-in-chief at the Veterans of Foreign Wars, blasted the voice vote in a statement.
“如果国会领导层认为这项提案值得通过，他们应该有勇气让每位议员的立场被记录在案，供全国民众查看，”盖斯勒说。“拿退伍军人福利玩政治游戏，却逃避公众问责，既懦弱又无耻。”民主党人也有自己的法案处理该问题，预计将于周四进行表决。支持者利用解除委员会审议动议绕过共和党领导层，强制在众议院全院进行表决。但民主党的法案不包含抵消措施。
“If congressional leaders believed this proposal was worthy of passage, they should have had the courage to let every member’s position be recorded for the country to see,” Geisler said. “Playing political games with veterans’ benefits while avoiding public accountability is cowardly and dishonorable.”Democrats have their own bill dealing with the issue that is expected to be voted on Thursday. Supporters used a discharge petition to get around Republican leadership and force a vote on the floor. But the Democratic measure does not include offsets.
高野表示，虽然一些共和党人对其法案的价格标签表示担忧，但他们却毫不介意派遣士兵上战场并批准随之而来的五角大楼预算，或者通过主要惠及富人的减税法案。
Takano said that while some Republicans have voiced concerns about the price tag of his bill they also have no problem sending soldiers to war and approving the Pentagon budgets that come with it, or in passing tax breaks that primarily benefit the wealthy.
“既然如此，他们为什么坚持要拿我们的退伍军人来平衡预算？”高野说。
“Why then do they insist on balancing the budget on the backs of our veterans?”Takano said.
如果由民主党主导的法案获得通过，参议院可以选择它支持的版本，也可以两个都不选，留待明年由民主党控制的国会来处理这一问题。
If the Democratic-led bill passes, the Senate could pick the one it favors, or neither, leaving it for a Democratic-controlled Congress to take the issue on next year.