特朗普总统重塑华盛顿特区的努力主导了他的第二个任期，即使在他所属政党在中期选举中惨败之后也是如此。
President Trump's efforts to remake Washington, D.C., have dominated his second term, even after his party's resounding midterm defeat.
他以在饱受丑闻困扰的倒影池畔开启竞选周，又以一项行政命令结束竞选周，该命令宣布他金碧辉煌的椭圆形办公室为国家纪念碑，旨在“让任何人永远无法破坏这个不可思议的空间”。这项公告与任何行政命令一样，未来的总统均可撤销。但特朗普的许多建设项目正以更持久的方式改变着华盛顿特区。
He started his election week at the scandal-plagued Reflecting Pool and ended it with an order declaring his gilded Oval Office a national monument to "make it impossible for anybody ever to destroy this incredible space." That proclamation, like any executive order, could be undone by a future president. But many of Trump's construction projects are changing D.C. in more permanent ways.
他的政府已在东波托马克公园砍伐了数百棵树，并拆除了白宫东翼，以腾出空间建造舞厅——他在中期选举次日向记者展示该舞厅时称其为“华盛顿最安全的地方”。
His administration has already downed hundreds of trees at East Potomac Park and demolished the East Wing of the White House to make space for a ballroom — which he called "the safest place in Washington" as he showed it to reporters the day after the midterms.
特朗普在建设问题上采取了独一无二的单边做法，在监管委员会安插盟友，完全绕过国会。他的大多数项目——从凯旋门到肯尼迪中心——目前都在法庭上争执不下。
Trump has taken a uniquely unilateral approach to construction, packing regulatory commissions with his allies and bypassing Congress entirely. Most of his projects — from the triumphal arch to the Kennedy Center — are now playing out in court.
批评者指责特朗普政府在竭力于任期结束前尽快推进进程的过程中，规避联邦法律并误导法官。
Critics accuse the Trump administration of skirting federal laws and misleading judges in its effort to progress as quickly as possible before the end of his term.
民主党人已誓言利用即将到手的国会多数地位，反击他们所形容的特朗普“虚荣工程”。
Democrats have vowed to use their soon-to-be congressional majority to push back on what they describe as Trump's "vanity projects."
当被问及此事时，白宫发言人戴维斯·英格尔在给美国国家公共电台（NPR）的电子邮件中表示，“没有哪位总统比特朗普总统为美化我们国家的内部环境做得更多。”他以公园清理、倒影池以及白宫直升机停机坪和宴会厅为例，并称民主党人“应该与特朗普总统合作，让我们的首都再次美丽起来”。加利福尼亚州民主党众议员贾里德·赫夫曼在接受NPR采访时表示，特朗普政府一直在“玩‘有本事来抓我’的游戏，他们开着推土机、拿着伐木机一路推进……然后等着法院叫停他们”。他说，由民主党领导的国会将会反击。
When asked about that, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told NPR in an email that "no other president has done more to beautify our Nation's interior than President Trump." He cited park cleanups, the Reflecting Pool and the White House helipad and ballroom as examples, and said Democrats "should work with President Trump to make our nation's capital beautiful again." Rep. Jared Huffman, D.-Calif., told NPR in an interview that the Trump administration has "played this game of Catch Me If You Can, where they roll ahead with the bulldozers and the tree cutters … and they wait for courts to shut them down." He says a Democrat-led Congress will fight back.
“当这些神圣、标志性的地方正以违反法律、可能造成极其糟糕的持久影响的方式被永久改变时，我们绝不可能袖手旁观，”赫夫曼说。他是众议院自然资源委员会的首席民主党议员，该委员会对公共土地和国家公园拥有立法管辖权。
"There's no way that we could look away while these sacred, iconic places are being permanently changed in ways that violate the law and could have really terrible lasting impacts," said Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, which has a legislative purview over public lands and national parks.
赫夫曼表示，阻止特朗普的建设项目——并追究相关人员可能的不当行为——将是他领导该委员会后的首要任务。本周早些时候，他向数十名政府官员和私营公司发出信函，要求他们为未来的调查保留记录。
Huffman says blocking Trump's construction projects — and holding people accountable for potential wrongdoing — will be a top priority when he leads the committee. Earlier this week, he sent letters ordering dozens of administration officials and private companies to preserve their records for a future investigation.
“无论是拱门，还是……还是东波托马克高尔夫球场，或者美国首都周围任何其他众多例子，那都是联邦土地，我们有直接的法定责任，要么批准这些变更，要么在它们未经适当授权就推进时予以阻止，”赫夫曼说。
"Whether it is the arch or … or the East Potomac golf course or any number of other examples around the United States capital, that is federal land, and we have a direct statutory responsibility to either authorize those changes or to stop them if they're proceeding without the proper authorization," Huffman said.
这实际上会是什么样子？民主党人有许多可用的工具，从立法到诉讼。但专家表示，可能只有两种会奏效：资金和监督。
What would that actually look like? Democrats have many tools at their disposal, from legislation to lawsuits. But experts say only two are likely to succeed: funding and oversight.
民主党人可能会阻止特定项目的拨款，最早可能在下个月。国会至少理论上可以通过法律阻止特定项目推进。一些民主党议员已经提出法案，保护肯尼迪中心免遭拆除，并禁止在纪念圆环建造拱门。
Democrats could block funding for specific projects, potentially as soon as next month Congress could — at least in theory — pass laws to block specific projects from moving ahead. Some Democratic lawmakers have already introduced bills to protect the Kennedy Center from demolition and prohibit the construction of an arch at Memorial Circle.
但特朗普已承诺“否决一切”，而民主党人不会有足够大的多数优势来独自推翻他的否决。
But Trump has promised to "veto everything," and Democrats won't have a big enough majority to override him on their own.
“从原则上讲，立法是最干净的做法，但也无法实现，”在乔治城大学教授行政法和宪法的戴维·苏珀说。“所以他们很可能做的是切断资金。”宪法规定，联邦政府只有在国会拨款的情况下才能花钱。但特朗普既没有为拱门和白宫宴会厅等项目寻求国会授权，也没有获得授权——他坚称自己不需要授权。
"Legislation in principle is the cleanest way of doing it, but it's also not achievable," said David Super, who teaches administrative and constitutional law at Georgetown. "So what they're likely to do is cut off funds." The Constitution says that the federal government may spend money only if is appropriated by Congress. But Trump has neither sought nor received congressional authorization for projects like the arch and the White House ballroom — he maintains he doesn't need it.
缅因州众议员切莉·平格里是众多持不同意见者之一。她是众议院监督内政部拨款委员会的首席民主党议员。
Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine is one of many who disagree. She's the top Democrat on the House committee that oversees funding for the Interior Department.
“国会当然应该参与，因为我们掌握着钱袋子的权力，”平格里告诉美国国家公共电台。“那是我们的终极工具。而共和党人一直拒绝使用它。但我们可以用很多方式利用它来阻止他，或者用它作为筹码。”平格里说，民主党多数将能够从一开始就在拨款法案中写明资金可以花在哪里、不能花在哪里——并且如果总统不遵守，可能会把他告上法庭。
"Certainly Congress should have been involved, because we have the power of the purse," Pingree told NPR. "That is our ultimate tool. And Republicans have refused to use that. But we can use that in very many ways to block him or to use it for leverage." Pingree says a Democratic majority will be able to write appropriations bills with clear language from the outset about where money can and can't be spent — and potentially take the president to court if he doesn't follow it.
苏珀预计国会在这样的挑战中会获胜，因为国会对联邦资金拥有明确的权力。
Super expects Congress would prevail in such a challenge, because it has clear-cut authority over federal funds.
例如，他指出，特朗普在华盛顿地区的一些美化项目至少部分资金来自被挪用的国家公园门票收入。他说，国会可以“限制大华盛顿地区可使用的资金数额，并迫使这些资金用于大沼泽地、约塞米蒂和大烟山”。
For example, he noted that some of Trump's D.C.-area beautification projects have been funded at least in part by diverted national park entrance fees. Congress could "cap how much money can be used in the greater Washington area, and force the money to be used in the Everglades and Yosemite and Great Smoky Mountains," he said.
国会将不得不在未来几周内做出一些拨款决定，因为它需要在12月11日前通过一项短期拨款法案，以避免政府停摆。民主党人可以利用这一机会，试图限制特朗普至少一个建设项目的资金。
Congress will have to make some appropriations decisions in the coming weeks, since it needs to pass a short-term funding bill by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown. Democrats could use that opportunity to try to limit funding for at least one of Trump's construction projects.
霍夫曼已提出措辞，旨在阻止特朗普将联邦资金用于东波托马克高尔夫球场的翻修，而是将这些资金限定用于修复该公园摇摇欲坠的防波堤。平格里表示，她将与他一起争取把这一内容纳入下个月的法案进行谈判。
Huffman has proposed language that would prevent Trump from using federal funds for the East Potomac golf course renovations, limiting them instead to repairs of the park's crumbling seawall. Pingree said she will join him in fighting to negotiate that into next month's bill.
“总统是否会在法案包含这一内容的情况下签署，我还不清楚，”她说。“但可以肯定的是，这些是最……紧迫的危机点……人们希望总统停止砍伐高尔夫球场上的树木，停止试图接管那里，他们也想确保建造拱门一事不会破土动工。”今年早些时候，平格里提出了一项修正案，原本会彻底阻止拱门的建设；该修正案因党派立场而未能通过。她想知道，鉴于美国人在投票中发出的信号，中期选举后是否会有共和党人改变投票立场。
"Whether or not the president will sign that with that in there, I don't know yet," she said. "But certainly those are the most … immediate crisis points … People want the president to stop cutting down the trees on the golf course and stop trying to take that over, and they want to make sure that no shovel goes into the ground on building the arch." Earlier this year Pingree introduced an amendment that would have outright blocked construction of the arch; it failed along party lines. She wonders whether any Republicans might vote differently after the midterms, given the message Americans sent at the polls.
她说：“他们希望总统把注意力放在他们正在面对的问题上：医疗保健的成本、食品的成本、汽油的成本。而如果总统每次发表演讲，要么站在他花了数百万美元修建的倒影池前，要么向你展示他正在往宴会厅里装的新大理石选项，那只会让很多人恼火。”
"They want the president to be focused on the issues they're dealing with: the cost of health care, the cost of food, the cost of gasoline," she said. "And if every time the president gives a speech, he's either standing in front of the Reflecting Pool, which he spent millions of dollars on, or showing you the new marble choices he's putting into the ballroom, it just makes a lot of people mad."
平格里说，她惊讶地听到人们对这些项目有如此强烈的感受——甚至包括华盛顿特区以外很远地方的人。她同意他们的看法，认为潜在的腐败和纳税人资金的滥用值得抗争：“过了年初之后，我们将动用我们掌握的一切手段。”民主党人希望追究个人和公司的责任。议员和专家承认，并非每个项目都可逆转，甚至可能不值得一争。霍夫曼暗示，他将把重点放在更大的项目上，以及那些推进太快、法院无法充分约束的项目上。
Pingree said she's been surprised to hear how strongly people feel about these projects – even people well outside D.C. And she agrees with them that potential corruption and misuse of taxpayer dollars are worth fighting: "After the first of the year, we will use every tool in our toolbox." Democrats want to hold people and companies accountable Lawmakers and experts acknowledge that not every project is reversible, or potentially even worth the fight. Huffman suggested he will focus on bigger projects, and ones that are moving too fast for courts to adequately rein in.
霍夫曼说：“我们会不会把所有精力都用来阻止华盛顿特区每一座雕像被镀金？大概不会。但我们谈论的是这些标志性的地方，它们会遭受永久性破坏，我们需要介入，努力加以阻止。”即便如此，史密斯学院政府学教授克莱尔·莱维特说，民主党人可能会认定某些建设项目是“他们为其他优先事项付出的代价”。选民已明确表示，他们希望议员把重点放在结束伊朗战争和让生活更负担得起上，而这些重大诉求可能需要耗费大量政治资本。
"Are we going to throw all of our efforts at stopping the gilding of every statue in Washington, D.C.? Probably not," said Huffman. "But these are iconic places that we're talking about, with permanent damage that we need to engage on to try to prevent." Even so, Democrats could decide that certain construction projects are "the price they pay for other priorities," said Claire Leavitt, a professor of government at Smith College. Voters made clear they want lawmakers to focus on ending the Iran war and making life more affordable, big asks that may take a lot of political capital.
莱维特说：“这并非腐败，也不是民主党人不尽职。这只是与你打交道的人打交道时必然要做的取舍，并且要明白，对特朗普来说，最重要的似乎莫过于建造拱门、建造宴会厅……改造肯尼迪中心。”无论这些项目是否推进，国会都可以更完整地向公众说明它们是如何产生的——以期防止未来出现更多类似情况。
"And that's not corruption or Democrats not doing their job," Leavitt said. "It's just the natural trade-offs of dealing with who you're dealing with, and understanding that what matters to Trump more than anything seems to be building the arch, building the ballroom … remaking the Kennedy Center." Whether or not these projects move forward, Congress can provide a fuller public accounting of how they came to be — in the hopes of preventing more in the future. "They can gavel in hearings. They have agenda-setting power," Leavitt said.
莱维特说：“他们可以敲槌召开听证会。他们拥有设定议程的权力。他们决定公开听证会的名单。他们决定邀请哪些证人。这意味着他们有一个独特的机会，可以让公众对特朗普政府产生负面关注。”说起来容易做起来难，尤其面对一个明确拒绝配合国会监督、并且现在警告民主党人其未来调查可能构成犯罪的政府。当被问及他准备如何应对这些挑战时，赫夫曼含糊其辞。
"They determine what the public hearing roster is. They decide which witnesses to invite. And that means they have a unique opportunity to draw negative public attention to the Trump administration." That may be easier said than done, especially with an administration that has pointedly refused to comply with congressional oversight and is now warning Democrats that their future investigations could constitute criminality. Huffman was coy when asked how he is preparing to handle such challenges.
他说：“我们将不得不制定一项战略和计划，来做往届国会从未想过自己不得不做的这些事情。”
"We are going to have to have a strategy and a plan to do these things that prior Congresses have never imagined they would have to do," he said.
议员们说，一项调查重点将是追踪资金流向——尤其是涉及宴会厅和其他项目的捐款。莱维特说，这一重点还有一个额外好处：私营公司和个人可能比政府成员更愿意作证。
One investigative priority, lawmakers say, will be following the money — especially when it comes to donations for the ballroom and other projects. Leavitt says that focus has an added benefit: Private companies and individuals are likely more willing to testify than a member of the administration.
另一个例子：国会可以传票索取有关肯尼迪中心董事会决策过程以及大楼实际状况的信息。受托人表示，大楼必须关闭两年进行维修。国会还可以把这些信息载入国会记录——因而也是历史记录。莱维特说：“现在的公众可以做出判断，历史也可以做出判断。”
Another example: Congress could subpoena for information about the decision-making processes of the Kennedy Center board and the physical state of the building, which trustees say must be closed for two years of repairs. And it can put that information in the Congressional — and therefore historical — Record. "Both the current public can make its judgments, and history can make its judgments," Leavitt said.
利维特表示，监督往往能在长期内推动政策变革。例如：调查1月6日暴乱的委员会并未阻止特朗普最终赦免国会大厦骚乱者，但确实促使国会通过了一项选举改革法案。
Leavitt said oversight can often lead to policy change in the longer term. For example: The committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection didn't stop Trump from eventually pardoning Capitol rioters, but it did lead Congress to pass an electoral reform act.
利维特说：“国会监督令人沮丧的地方在于，国会可以引起人们对某个问题的关注，并要求对已经发生的事情追责，但国会很难阻止一位下定决心要做的事情的总统。” 舒珀同意民主党正在打持久战。他预计在特朗普卸任后，将会出现更多两党支持，以防止未来的总统效仿他的做法。
"The frustrating part about congressional oversight is Congress can draw attention to a problem, and they can demand accountability for something that's already been done," Leavitt said. "But it's very hard for Congress to stop something from happening that the president is determined to do." Super agrees that Democrats are playing a long game. He expects to see more bipartisan support after Trump leaves office for preventing future presidents from following his playbook.
他说：“过去的程序建立在信任之上，而特朗普总统无疑在许多方面破坏了这种信任。法律可以制定得让我们不依赖信任，而是依赖法律。我猜我们将会这么做。”
"The process in the past has been built on trust, and President Trump certainly broke that trust in numerous ways," he said. "Laws can be written so that we don't depend on trust, we depend on law. And I'm guessing we're going to do that."