美眾院失能：724輪投票僅通過27項法律

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the former speaker, had a positive spin on the five days and record-breaking 15 voting rounds it took him to win the gavel in January. “Because it took this long,” he said after the ordeal, “now we learned how to govern.”

今年一月，美國眾議員、前議長麥卡錫在眾議院歷經五天、進行破紀錄15輪投票，才贏得議長木槌，但他對此抱持正面看法。他歷經這場嚴峻考驗後說：「正因花了這麼多時間，如今我們學會如何治理」。

But as the first year of the 118th Congress draws to a close, the numbers tell a different story — one that doesn’t involve much governing at all.

然而，隨著第118屆美國國會會期即將結束，數據所呈現的卻不是這麼一回事：沒涉及什麼治理。

In 2023, the Republican-led House has passed only 27 bills that became law, despite holding a total of 724 votes.

2023年，共和黨掌控的眾院雖舉行724次投票，卻僅27項法案通過成為法律。

That is more voting and less lawmaking than at any other time in the past decade, according to an analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center, and a far less productive record than that of last year, when Democrats had unified control of Congress. The House held 549 votes in 2022, according to the House clerk, and passed 248 bills that were signed into law, according to records kept by the Library of Congress, including a bipartisan infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act and the first bipartisan gun safety bill in decades.

兩黨政策中心一項分析指出，與過去十年任何時候相較，今年表決更多立法更少；與民主黨統一掌控國會的去年相比，成效更相距甚遠。據眾院書記官，2022年眾院舉行549次投票，國會圖書館紀錄顯示，通過248項法案並簽署成為法律，包含一項跨黨派基礎建設法、降低通膨法，以及數十年來第一個跨黨派槍枝安全法。

The list of this year’s accomplishments is less ambitious and more bare minimum, such as legislation to suspend the debt ceiling and set federal spending limits that helped pull the nation back from the brink of economic catastrophe. The tally also includes two temporary spending measures to avoid government shutdowns. The House cleared the must-pass annual military policy bill last week before leaving for the year, although it is not known when President Joe Biden will sign it into law.

反觀眾院今年成績單，通過的法案野心較小且較屬於滿足最低需求，例如立法凍結債務上限並設定聯邦支出限制，好將美國從經濟災難邊緣拉回來。成績單上還包括為了避免政府關門而通過的兩項臨時支出法案。眾院上周趕在今年休會前，批准了必須通過的年度軍事政策法案，雖然還不確定總統拜登何時會簽署成為法律。

The numbers reflect the challenges that have plagued Republicans all year and are likely to continue, and maybe even get worse, in 2024: a tiny majority that requires near unanimity to get anything done; deep party divisions that make unanimity all but impossible; and a right wing whose priority is reining in government, not passing new laws to broaden its reach.

這些數字反映的是困擾共和黨一整年的難題，且2024年可能持續並惡化：微弱多數因此需要幾乎一致同意才能實現任何目標；黨內重大分歧使一致同意幾乎不可能；黨內右派的優先要務是阻擋政府，而非通過新法律擴大其影響力。

Molly Reynolds, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, said Congress’ productivity issues this year reached a “low point.” She attributed it to deepening political polarization and to the fractured House Republican conference with its too-slim-to-govern majority.

布魯金斯研究所治理領域資深研究員茉莉．雷諾茲表示，今年的國會生產力問題跌至「低點」。她將此歸咎於政治兩極化加劇，以及眾院共和黨會議四分五裂，及其多數優勢常微弱到難以治理。

美政府：2023年全美遊民人口增幅創新高

Homelessness surged this year to the highest level on record, the federal government reported Friday.

美國聯邦政府周五報告稱，今年遊民人數增至史上最高水平。

An annual head count, conducted in January, found the homeless population had increased by more than 70,000 people, or 12%. That is the single largest one-year jump since the Department of Housing and Urban Development began collecting data in 2007, and the increase affected all parts of the homeless population.

今年一月進行的年度人數統計發現，遊民人口增加超過七萬人，即12%。這是美國住房與都市發展部2007年開始收集數據以來最大單年增幅，而且此一增加影響了遊民人口的所有層面。

By the government’s count, 653,104 people in the United States were homeless in January.

美國政府統計，今年一月全美65萬3104人無家可歸。

Biden administration officials and academic experts said the increase reflected both a sharp rise in rents and the end of the extraordinary measures the government had enacted during the pandemic, including financial aid and bans on eviction.

拜登政府官員和學術界專家表示，遊民人口增加反映租金急劇上漲，及政府疫情期間採取的特別措施終止，這些措施包括財務援助和禁止驅逐房客。

“The most significant causes are the shortage of affordable homes and the high cost of housing,” said Jeff Olivet, head of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

美國聯邦遊民問題跨部門委員會負責人奧利維特表示：「最重要原因是可負擔住房短缺及住房成本高昂。」

But some researchers said the rise in homelessness also stemmed from the growing number of migrants entering the homeless services system. That trend has only intensified since the count was taken, as Republican governors, especially Greg Abbott in Texas, have sent more people who have arrived from across the border to Northern cities.

然而，有些研究員表示，遊民人口增加也源自愈來愈多移民進入遊民服務系統。這類趨勢自開始統計後有增無減，特別是德州州長艾伯特等共和黨籍州長將更多從邊境抵達的移民送往北方城市之後。

Some of the sharpest growth in homelessness has occurred in the cities most affected by the influx of migrants, including New York, Denver and Chicago.

一些遊民人數急劇增加現象，發生在受移民湧入影響最嚴重的城市，包括紐約、丹佛和芝加哥。

“Even without the migrant crisis we would have seen some increase, but certainly not to this extent,” said Dennis Culhane, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has long served as an adviser to the federal government’s annual count.

長期擔任聯邦政府年度人口統計顧問的賓州大學教授卡爾翰表示：「即使沒有移民危機，我們也會看到遊民人口增加，但肯定不會增加到這種程度。」

By the government’s count, 653,104 people in the United States were homeless in January.

美政府統計顯示，今年一月美國有65萬3104個遊民。

Homelessness grew among every group the federal government tracks. It rose among individuals and families with children. It rose among the young and the old. It rose among the chronically homeless and those entering the system for the first time.

聯邦政府追蹤的各群體，遊民數都在增加。個人和有孩子的家庭無家可歸者增加，年輕人和年長遊民增加，長期無家可歸者或首次進入遊民服務系統的人也增加。

It also rose among veterans, the group that in recent years had experienced the sharpest declines, after a significant expansion of federal aid.

也有愈來愈多退伍軍人成為遊民。聯邦補助顯著增加後，近年來退伍軍人遊民人數曾歷經最急劇減少。

From 2007 to 2016, homelessness fell every year, by a total of 15%. It then rose by about 6% in the years before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. The one-year rise of 70,000 in 2023 is more than four times greater than any previous increase.

2007至2016年，遊民數逐年減少，總計少15%，之後新冠疫情2020年爆發前幾年間增加6%。2023年一年增加七萬人，是先前增加數字的四倍多。