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The real fight begins真正的战斗打响了 As a government shutdown looms, an attempt tograpple with Americas long-term deficit problems isat last under way 政府关门之危迫在眉睫，最终总算有人挺身而出解决美国长期的赤字问题了 CONGRESS may not be very good at passingbudgets, but that is not for lack of discussion ofthem. This week it was by three overlappingbudgetary debates: about a continuing resolutionto keep the government up and running for the restof this fiscal year, about next years budget and about whether to raise the legal limit on thefederal governments debt. Lawmakers have just under six months to sort out next yearsbudget, and under six weeks before Americas debt reaches the current ceiling. But without anew resolution, the governments authority to spend will expire at midnight on April 8th,forcing much of it to shut up shop. As The Economist went to press, the Republicans who runthe House of Representatives, the Democrats who run the Senate and Barack Obama himselfwere holding last-ditch talks, but also warning their staffs to prepare for a shutdown. 国会可能并不是很擅长通过预算，但这并不是因为议员之间缺乏讨论沟通。本周国会将同时忙于三场关于预算的辩论：有关延续性决议的辩论，以维持政府运转直至本财政年度结束;有关下一年度预算的辩论;有关是否应提升联邦政府债务法定上限的辩论。立法人员仅有不到六个月的时间整理下一年度的预算，更是仅有不到六周的时间美国的债务就到达当前的上限了。但在没有新决议的情况下，政府开支之权将在4月8日午夜12点废止，政府大部分部门将被迫关门。截至本期《经济学人》付梓之时，共和党控制的众议院、民主党控制的参议院及贝拉克奥巴马总统本人在举行最后的会谈，同时也警告各自职员为政府关门做好准备。 | 
