韦氏观察

Column: What The Next Speaker Must Do
我成长于俄亥俄州辛辛那提一座山丘上的小房子里，有11个兄弟姊妹。我父亲经营着一家名叫“安迪咖啡”(Andy’s Cafe)的酒吧，是我祖父安德鲁•博纳(John Boehner)在1938年开的。我们不是很富有，但对已有的一切都心存感激。我们对华盛顿也想得不多。

这一切在我经营一家小企业的时候发生了改变（我最终把它打造成了一家成功的企业）。我从亲身经历中看到政府是如何阻碍创造就业、扼杀繁荣的。这促使我与政府打交道，并最终进入了国会。

许许多多美国人也有过同样的体会。他们在华盛顿身上看到了权力的傲慢(请问哪一个国家的民众看不到本国权利所带代表的无端傲慢与偏执？)。他们看到国会不倾听民声，掌控它的领导人似乎不问现实，不屑理会甚至鄙视美国人对他们政府的愤怒，以及美国人在就业状况不佳的经济形势下所面临的种种挑战。

过去两年中，政治版图已经被永久重划了。民选官员的贪大求全──体现为庞大的“刺激”支出，永久性的援助，以及各种强制纳税人补贴不负责任行为的政策──已经唤醒了我们国民性格深处的某些东西。这导致公民们爆发了要求政府缩小规模、增强责任的激进运动，并在周二的选举中对华盛顿说不。
I grew up in a small house on a hill in Cincinnati, Ohio, with 11 brothers and sisters. My dad ran a bar, Andy’s Cafe, that my grandfather Andrew Boehner opened in 1938. We didn’t have much but were thankful for what we had. And we didn’t think much about Washington.

That changed when I got involved with a small business, which I eventually built into a successful enterprise. I saw firsthand how government throws obstacles in the way of job-creation and stifles our prosperity. It prompted me to get involved in my government, and eventually took me to Congress.

Millions of Americans have had a similar experience. They look at Washington and see an arrogance of power. They see a Congress that doesn’t listen, that is ruled by leaders who seem out of touch and dismissive, even disdainful, of the anger that Americans feel toward their government and the challenges they face in an economy struggling to create jobs.

The political landscape has been permanently reshaped over the past two years. Overreaching by elected officials — in the form of pork-laden ‘stimulus’ spending, permanent bailouts, and policies that force responsible taxpayers to subsidize irresponsible behavior — has awakened something deep in our national character. This has led to a surge of activism by citizens demanding smaller, more accountable government and a repudiation of Washington in Tuesday’s elections.

那些以往没有或很少参与国家政治进程的美国人，由于对拒绝倾听的政治家感到厌烦，目前正在帮助推动这一进程。虽然他们的背景像这个国家本身一样多种多样，但他们传递给华盛顿的信息却是一致的：政府领导人是人民的仆人；人民不是政府的仆人。
要让美国人民与他们所选领导人之间破碎的信任纽带还有一点修复的希望，第112届国会的成员们就必须留意到这一信息。这就要从众议院议长开始，作为众议院的领导人，他必须以身作则。

因此，我认为有几条措施是下一任议长应当准备立即采取的。其中包括：

取消指定用途款项(earmark)。指定用途款项已经成为华盛顿陷入分裂的象征，而一个完整的游说行业已围绕它们而形成。众议院议长不应该使用手中的权力要求财政部为专门施惠于其所在选区的项目提供资金。相反，议长应当倡导终结当前的指定用途款项运作流程，并身体力行不要这种专款，为国会所有成员树立榜样。

我在国会供职期间一直坚持不用指定用途拨款的政策。我认为，众议院必须停止所有专项拨款，以此表明我们要打破这一现状的态度。

美国人为议案投票之前，应首先了解议案内容。一项议案在表决之前应至少在网上公示三天，否则众议院议长就不应容许为该议案投票。国会议员和美国民众必须有机会了解议案内容。

同样，众议院议长应坚持让每个议案中都包含这样一条说明，即《宪法》中哪条规定具体赋予了国会通过该议案的权力。过不了这一关的议案不应付诸投票表决。众议院共和党人新的执政日程表《向美国承诺》(A Pledge to America)要求众议院议长立即进行这些改革。

不再接受“综合性”议案。下一届众议院议长应终结所谓的综合性议案，这些议案一般都附有长达数千页的法律文件，开支计划与扼杀就业的政策很容易藏匿其中。奥巴马总统大规模的经济刺激和医疗保险议案是关起门来完成的，公众监督被降到最低程度，这些议案是使很多美国人不堪重负的最后一根致命稻草。综合性议案没有为美国人带来实惠，因此民众有理由对“综合性”这个词持怀疑态度。

不要再在众议院议长办公室里闭门造车完成议案。议案应由国会立法者在公众直接监督下完成。每次应只立法解决一个问题，众议院议长应重点关注规模较小、重点突出的法案，即那些受到妥善审议、有宪法依据、与美国民众要求政府降低开支、减少扰民的呼声保持一致的法案。

众议院议长与所有国会议员一样，都是美国人民的公仆。被委以如此崇高荣誉和重大责任的议长，作为个人应对得起这份荣誉和责任。议长的使命不应是巩固其个人权力，而应确保当选的政府官员能够履行承诺，为《宪法》精神和我们所服务的美国人民而努力奋斗。如果议长能够不辱使命地履行其责任，那么所获成果应体现在美国立法上，即通过的立法能够更好地反映美国所面临的重大挑战。

国会的多数党应能够倾听人民的心声、关心人民的疾苦、尊重人民提出的政府规模缩减、态度更加负责的要求。承担责任应从上而下做起，从众议院议长做起。
Tired of politicians who refuse to listen, Americans who previously were not involved or minimally involved in the political process are now helping to drive it. While their backgrounds are as diverse as the country itself, their message to Washington is the same: Government leaders are servants of the people; the people are not servants of their government.

The members of the 112th Congress must heed this message if there is to be any hope of repairing the shattered bonds of trust between the American people and their elected leaders. And that begins with the speaker of the House, who as leader of the institution must lead by example.

Accordingly, there are several steps I believe the next speaker should be prepared to take immediately. Among them:

No earmarks. Earmarks have become a symbol of a broken Washington, and an entire lobbying industry has been created around them. The speaker of the House shouldn’t use the power of the office to raid the federal Treasury for pork-barrel projects. To the contrary, the speaker should be an advocate for ending the current earmark process, and should adhere to a personal no-earmarks policy that stands as an example for all members of Congress to follow.

I have maintained a no-earmarks policy throughout my time of service in Congress. I believe the House must adopt a moratorium on all earmarks as a signal of our commitment to ending business as usual in the spending process.

Let Americans read bills before they are brought to a vote. The speaker of the House should not allow any bill to come to a vote that has not been posted publicly online for at least three days. Members of Congress and the American people must have the opportunity to read it.

Similarly, the speaker should insist that every bill include a clause citing where in the Constitution Congress is given the power to pass it. Bills that can’t pass this test shouldn’t get a vote. House Republicans’ new governing agenda, ‘A Pledge to America,’ calls for the speaker to implement such reforms immediately.

No more ‘comprehensive’ bills. The next speaker should put an end to so-called comprehensive bills with thousands of pages of legislative text that make it easy to hide spending projects and job-killing policies. President Obama’s massive ‘stimulus’ and health-care bills, written behind closed doors with minimal public scrutiny, were the last straw for many Americans. The American people are not well-served by ‘comprehensive,’ and they are rightly suspicious of the adjective.

No more bills written behind closed doors in the speaker’s office. Bills should be written by legislators in committee in plain public view. Issues should be advanced one at a time, and the speaker should place an emphasis on smaller, more focused legislation that is properly scrutinized, constitutionally sound, and consistent with Americans’ demand for a less-costly, less-intrusive government.

The speaker of the House, like all members of Congress, is a servant of the American people. The individual entrusted with that high honor and responsibility should act accordingly. A speaker’s mission should not be to consolidate power in the speaker’s office, but rather to ensure that elected officials uphold their oath to defend the Constitution and the American people we serve. If a speaker carries out that mission successfully, the result should be legislation that better reflects the considerable challenges we face as a nation.

The American people deserve a majority in Congress that listens to the people, focuses on their priorities and honors their demands for smaller, more accountable government. Accountability starts at the top, in the office of the speaker.

（本文作者约翰•博纳(JOHN BOEHNER)将担任美国众议院下一任议长。本文版权归道琼斯公司所有）