美语听力讲解:众议院正式指控特朗普煽动暴动 参议院忙于确认拜登内阁提名

迅雷高速下载    音频下载[点击右键另存为]

We're start in the U.S. Senate. It's busy. There are several major tasks on Senators to do list. They include President Joe Biden's cabinet nominees, his new Administration's economic stimulus proposal and an upcoming impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump. The presidential cabinet includes the Vice-President, the White House Chief of Staff, Intelligence and Counsel leaders and the heads of 15 Executive departments, the secretaries of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Labor.
The Constitution does not establish or require a cabinet but every president since George Washington has had one.
And the Senate has the responsibility of either confirming or rejecting the president's cabinet nominees. The chamber's considering some of President Biden's right now. So that's one thing it's working on. Another is a new $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal. The Trump Administration signed two major stimulus packages last year, one cost more than $2 trillion, the other was $900 billion., these are intended to help with the economic problems brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. And the Biden Administration's new proposal will be debated by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Speaking of the House, it voted earlier this month to impeach or formally charge President Trump with incitement of insurrection. His accusers say his statements at a large rally on January 6th encouraged some of the people there to later riot at the U.S. Capitol building. His supporters say his statements were appropriate and he never called for violence. It's up to the Senate to decide whether to convict or acquit the former president. And there are questions about the timing of all of this. How much can the chamber do and how quickly with several major assignments on its plate and a 50-50 political split with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. Any tie it has will be broken by U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, a Democrat.