US Senate Repeals One Farm Subsidy, Adds Another

美国参议院废除一项农业补贴又增加新的农业补贴

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

The United States Senate has voted to cut a program that makes $5 billion a year in direct payments to farmers. But senators added new subsidies that critics say could hurt farmers in other countries more than the existing program.

美国参议院已经投票通过了削减一个每年向农民提供50亿美元直接补贴的项目。但参议员又增加了新的补贴项目，批评人士表示，它会给其他国家农民带来比旧项目更大的伤害。

The vote was part of $955 billion Farm Bill approved by a wide majority in the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans. It would cut about $24 billion from the budget over 10 years, in part by cuttting the direct payments. Farmers received these payments, whether they had good years or bad.

这次投票是一项价值9550亿美元的农业法案的一部分，该法案在参议院同时获得了民主党和共和党的广泛支持。在未来10年它会削减240亿美元预算，部分是通过削减直接补贴。无论年头好坏农民之前都能获得这项补贴。

But high crop prices along with historically high farm profits, and reduced federal spending made the payments politically unpopular. Eliminating the payments was a big change in the new farm bill.

但高粮价伴随处于历史高位的农业利润，以及联邦支出减少使得这种补贴在政治上不合时宜。取消这种补贴是新农业法案中的一个很大变化。

Senator Debbie Stabenow heads the Agriculture Committee.

参议员黛比·施塔贝诺（Debbie Stabenow）是（美国参议院）农业委员会的负责人。

"It's a reform bill, it ends subsidies and moves us in the direction of risk management and we are very proud of the work that we have done."

她说，“这是一项改革法案，它会取消补贴，将我们推向风险管理。我们对自己所做的工作感到非常自豪。”

The senate bill would help farmers manage the risks of bad weather as well as bad markets. It would do this by offering crop insurance to farmers raising crops that have not previously been covered by the insurance. And it would make payments to farmers if prices drop too much.

这项参议院法案将有助于农民管理恶劣天气和不利市场的风险。它会通过向之前未被保险覆盖的种植农作物的农民提供农作物保险来实现这点。如果粮价下降太多，它还会向农民提供补贴。

Senator Steppernow says the goal is to help the farmers who provide the United States with a safe, affordable food supply. But critics say the bill goes too far.

施塔贝诺参议员表示，其目标是帮助为美国提了供安全、价格合理的食品供应的农民。但批评人士称该法案有点过度。

Vince Smith is an economist at Montana State University, he says the new guarantee to pay farmers if prices drop too much could cause trouble for the United States at the World Trade Organization.

文斯·史密斯（Vince Smith）是蒙大拿州立大学的经济学家，他表示粮价下跌过多就补贴农民的这一新的保障措施可能会让美国在世贸组织遇到麻烦。

"When prices fall from the current levels, subsidies to a whole plethora of crops go up. Well, that's exactly when countries like Brazil will bring trade dispute cases claiming price suppression in world markets."

他说，“如果价格从目前的水平下跌，就会向所有过剩农作物提供补贴。这时候巴西等国家就会发起贸易争议案件声称全球市场上价格受抑。”

Brazil has already won a WTO case against the United States over cotton subsidies. Mr Smith says the new Farm Bill could revive that dispute.

巴西已经针对美国的棉花补贴赢得了一起世贸组织案件。史密斯先生表示，这项新的农业法案会再次激起这一争议。

The bill would also lead the government buy $60 million in emergency food aid closer to where a crisis is happening. Supporter say doing that is faster and cheaper that shipping food from the United States and could save more lives.

该法案也会导致美国政府在危机发生地周边购买6000万美元的粮食紧急援助。支持者表示，这样做比从美国运粮食更快更便宜，还能挽救更多生命。

Eric Munoz with the anti-poverty group Oxfam says it is a good step. But he notes that it is a very small part of a food aid budget of more than $1 billion.

埃里克·穆尼奥斯（Eric Munoz）就职于扶贫组织乐施会（Oxfam），他表示这是一个很好的举措。但他指出，这只是超过10亿美元的粮食援助预算中的极小一部分。

"It is a very small portion of a relatively large program. So I think we're just at the beginning, really, of creating the kind of flexibility for food aid that we'd like to see on a much larger scale."

他说，“这是一个规模相当大的项目中极小的一部分。所以我认为这只是建立粮食援助的这种灵活性的开始，我们希望看到它规模变得更大。”