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Hi, I'm Craig and this is Crash Course Government and Politics,
嗨，我是克雷格，这是《政府和政治速成课》。
and today we're going to get down and dirty wallowing in the mud that is Congress.
今天我们将身陷国会泥潭。
Okay, maybe that's a little unfair,
好吧，也许这有点不公平，
but the workings of Congress are kind of arcane or byzantine or maybe let's just say extremely complex and confusing,
但是国会的运作有点晦涩难懂，或者我们可以说非常复杂和混乱，
like me, or Game of Thrones without the nudity.
就像我一样，或者没有裸体的《权力的游戏》。
Some of the nudity, maybe.
或许是有一些裸体的。
However, Congress is the most important branch, so it would probably behoove most Americans to know how it works.
然而，国会是最重要的部门，所以大多数美国人应该知道它是如何运作的。
I'm going to try to explain.
我试着解释一下。
Be prepared to be behooved.
做好应对准备。
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are divided up into committees in order to make them more efficient.
为了提高效率，众议院和参议院都被分成了几个委员会。
The committees you hear about most are the standing committees,
你听到最多的委员会是常务委员会，
which are relatively permanent and handle the day-to-day business of Congress.
它相对来说是永久性的，负责国会的日常事务。
The House has 19 standing committees and the Senate 16.
众议院有19个常务委员会，参议院16个。
Congressmen and Senators serve on multiple committees.
国会议员和参议员在多个委员会任职。
Each committee has a chairperson, or chair, who is the one who usually gets mentioned in the press,
每个委员会都有一个主席，也就是通常在媒体上被提及的主席，
which is why you would know the name of the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.
这就是为什么你会知道众议院筹款委员会主席的名字。
Tell us in the comments if you do know, or tell us if you are on the committee, or just say hi.
如果你知道，请在评论中告诉我们；如果你是委员会成员，请在评论中打个招呼。
Congress creates special or select committees to deal with particular issues that are beyond the jurisdiction of standing committees.
国会设立专门委员会或特别委员会，以处理常委会管辖范围以外的特定问题。
Some of them are temporary and some, like the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, are permanent.
其中有些是临时的，有些则是永久性的，比如参议院情报特别委员会。
Some of them have only an advisory function which means they can't write laws.
他们中的一些人只有一个咨询权限，这意味着他们不能制定法律。
The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming has only advisory authority
能源独立和全球变暖专责委员会只有顾问权，
which tells you pretty much all you need to know about Congress and climate change.
它能告诉你关于国会和气候变化你需要知道的一切。
There are joint committees made up of members of both houses.
两院都有联合委员会。
Most of them are standing committees and they don't do a lot
他们中的大多数都是常务委员会，他们做的不多，
although the joint Committee on the Library oversees the Library of Congress, without which we would not be able to use a lot of these pictures.
尽管图书馆联合委员会监督国会图书馆，不然我们就不能使用这些图片。
Like that one, and that one, and ooh that one's my favorite.
像那个、那个还有那个是我的最爱。
Other committees are conference committees, which are created to reconcile a bill when the House and Senate write different versions of it,
其他的委员会是会议委员会，当众议院和参议院起草不同版本的法案时，会议委员会是用来协调法案的。
but I'll talk about those later when we try to figure out how a bill becomes a law.
但是我之后才会细讲这些，当我们试图弄清楚一个法案是如何变成法律的时候。
So why does Congress have so many committees?
那么为什么国会有这么多委员会呢?
The main reason is that it's more efficient to write legislation in a smaller group rather than a larger one.
主要原因是，在一个较小的群体中而不是在一个较大的群体中立法更有效率。
Congressional committees also allow Congressmen to develop expertise on certain topics.
国会委员会也允许国会议员在某些问题上发展专门知识。
So a Congressperson from Iowa can get on an agriculture committee because that is an issue he presumably knows something about if he pays attention to his constituents.
所以爱荷华州的国会议员可以加入农业委员会，因为如果他关注他的选民，他大概知道这个问题。
Or a Congressperson from Oklahoma could be on the Regulation of Wind Rolling Down the Plain Committee.
或者俄克拉何马州的国会议员可能会参与监管风吹平原委员会。
Committees allow members of Congress to follows their own interests, so someone passionate about national defense can try to get on the armed services committee.
委员会允许国会议员遵循他们自己的兴趣，所以对国防充满热情的人可以尝试进入军事委员会。
Probably more important, serving on a committee is something that a Congressperson can claim credit for and use to build up his or her brand when it comes time for reelection.
也许更重要的是，在一个委员会任职是一种国会议员可以申请的荣誉，并用来建立选举时的品牌。
Congress also has committees for historical reasons.
由于历史原因，国会也有委员会。
Congress is pretty tradish, which is what you say when you don't have time to say traditional.
国会是相当扭曲的，这是当你没有时间说完传统这个单词的时候你会说的话。
Anyway, it doesn't see much need to change a system that has worked, for the most part, since 1825.
无论如何，国会认为没有必要改变一个自1825年以来基本上一直有效的体系。
That doesn't mean that Congress hasn't tried to tweak the system.
但这并不意味着国会没有试图调整这一体系。
Let's talk about how committees actually work in the Thought Bubble.
让我们来谈谈委员会是如何在思想泡沫中工作的。
Any member of Congress can propose a bill, this is called proposal power, but it has to go to a committee first.
任何国会议员都可以提出一项法案，这被称为提案权力，但它必须先提交给委员会。
Then to get to the rest of the House or Senate it has to be reported out of committee.
然后要到众议院或参议院的其他议员那里，它必须从委员会报告出来。
The chair determines the agenda by choosing which issues get considered.
主席通过选择考虑哪些问题来决定议程。
In the House the Speaker refers bills to particular committees, but the committee chair has some discretion over whether or not to act on the bills.
众议院议长将法案提交给特定委员会，但委员会主席对是否对法案采取行动有一定的决定权。
This power to control what ideas do or do not become bills is what political scientists call “Gatekeeping Authority”,
这种控制想法成为或不成为法案的权力被政治学家称为“守门权”，
and it's a remarkably important power that we rarely ever think about,
这是一种非常重要的力量，我们很少会想到它，
largely because when a bill doesn't make it on to the agenda, there's not much to write or talk about.
主要是因为当一项法案没有被列入议程时，就没什么可写或可谈的了。
The committee chairs also manage the actual process of writing a bill, which is called mark-up, and the vote on the bill in the committee itself.
委员会主席还管理起草法案的实际过程，即所谓的标高，以及委员会本身对法案的投票。
If a bill doesn't receive a majority of votes in the committee, it won't be reported out to the full House or Senate.
如果一项法案在委员会中得不到多数选票，它将不会向众议院或参议院报告。
In this case we say the bill ”died in committee” and we have a small funeral on the National Mall.
在这种情况下，我们说法案“死于委员会”，我们在国家广场有一个小型葬礼。
Nah we just put it in the shredder.
不，我们只是把它放进碎纸机里。
Anyway, committee voting is kind of an efficient practice.
不管怎样，委员会投票是一种有效的做法。
If a bill can't command a majority in a small committee it doesn't have much chance in the floor of either house.
如果一项法案不能在一个小委员会中赢得多数席位，那么它在两院中的胜算都不大。
Committees can kill bills by just not voting on them,
委员会可以通过不投票来否决法案，
but it is possible in the House to force them to vote by filing a discharge petition - this almost never happens.
但众议院有可能通过提交解散申请来强迫他们投票——这几乎从未发生过。
Gatekeeping Authority is Congress's most important power,
守门权是国会最重要的权力，
but it also has oversight power, which is an after-the-fact authority to check up on how law is being implemented.
但它也有监督权力，这是事后权力，以检查法律的执行情况。
Committees exercise oversight by assigning staff to scrutinize a particular law or policy and by holding hearings.
委员会通过指派工作人员审查特定的法律或政策和举行听证会来进行监督。
Holding hearings is an excellent way to take a position on a particular issue.
举行听证会是在特定问题上表明立场的绝佳方式。
Thanks Thought Bubble.
谢谢思想泡泡。
So those are the basics of how committees work, but I promised you we'd go beyond the basics, so here we go into the Realm of Congressional History.
这些是委员会运作的基础，但我向你们保证，我们会超越基础，现在我们进入国会历史的领域。
Since Congress started using committees they have made a number of changes, but the ones that have bent the Congress into its current shape occurred under the speakership of Newt Gingrich in 1994.
自从国会开始成立委员会以来，委员会一直在变化，但1994年，在议长纽特?金里奇的领导下，国会发生了变革，使其形成了目前的格局。
Overall Gingrich increased the power of the Speaker, who was already pretty powerful.
总体来说，金里奇增加了议长的权力，而这位议长本来就很有权力。
The number of subcommittees was reduced, and seniority rules in appointing chairs were changed.
减少小组委员会的数目，改变任命主席的资历规则。
Before Gingrich or “BG” the chair of a committee was usually the longest serving member of the majority party, which for most of the 20th century was the Democrats.
在金里奇或“BG”之前，委员会主席通常是多数党中任职时间最长的成员，在20世纪的大部分时间里，多数党是民主党。
AG Congress, or Anno Gingrichy Congress, holds votes to choose the chairs.
国会，或称“无金瑞奇国会”，举行投票选举主席。
The Speaker has a lot of influence over who gets chosen on these votes,
在这些投票中，谁会被选上，议长有很大的影响力，
which happen more regularly because the Republicans also impose term limits on the committee chairs.
这种影响更常见，因为共和党人也对委员会主席施加任期限制。
Being able to offer chairmanships to loyal party members gives the Speaker a lot more influence over the committees themselves.
能够向忠诚的党员提供主席职位，使议长对委员会本身有更大的影响力。
The Speaker also increased his, or her -- this is the first time we can say that, thanks Nancy Pelosi -- power to refer bills to committee and act as gatekeeper.
议长还增加了他(或她)——这是我们第一次可以这样说，感谢南希·佩洛西——向委员会提交法案并充当把关人的权力。
Gingrich also made changes to congressional staffing.
金里奇还改变了国会的人员配备。
But before we discuss the changes, let's spend a minute or two looking at Congressional staff in general.
但是在我们讨论这些变化之前，让我们花一到两分钟来看看国会的全体工作人员。
There are two types of congressional staff,
有两种类型的国会工作人员，
the Staff Assistants that each Congressperson or Senator has to help her or him with the actual job of being a legislator,
一种是国会议员助理，每个国会议员或参议员都要帮助她或他做议员的工作，
and the Staff Agencies that work for Congress as a whole.
另一种是为国会工作的机构。
The staff of a Congressperson is incredibly important.
国会议员的工作人员非常重要。
Some staffers' job is to research and write legislation while others do case work, like responding to constituents' requests.
一些员工的工作是研究和撰写法律法规，而另一些人则是做案例工作，比如回应选民的要求。
Some staffers perform personal functions, like keeping track of a Congressperson's calendar,
有些工作人员执行个人职能，比如记录国会议员的日程表，
or most importantly making coffee - can we get a staffer in here?
或者最重要的是煮咖啡——我们能派个职员来吗?
As Congresspeople spend more and more time raising money, more and more of the actual legislative work is done by staff.
由于国会议员花费越来越多的时间来筹集资金，越来越多的实际立法工作是由工作人员完成的。
In addition to the individual staffers, Congress as a whole has specialized staff agencies that are supposed to be more independent.
除了个别工作人员之外，国会作为一个整体，还有专门的工作机构，理应更加独立。
You may have heard of these agencies, or at least some of them.
你可能听说过这些机构，或者至少其中一些。
The Congressional Research Service is supposed to perform unbiased factual research for Congresspeople and their staff to help them in the process of writing the actual bills.
国会研究服务处应该为国会议员和他们的工作人员进行公正的事实研究，以帮助他们起草实际法案。
The Government Accountability Office is a branch of Congress that can investigate the finances and administration of any government administrative office.
政府问责办公室是国会的一个分支机构，可以调查任何政府行政部门的财政和行政管理。
The Congressional Budget Office assesses the likely costs and impact of legislation.
国会预算办公室评估立法的可能成本和影响。
When the CBO looks at the cost of a particular bill it's called “scoring the bill.”
当国会预算办公室看到一项特定法案的成本时，它被称为“计分法案”。
The Congressional reforms after 1994 generally increased the number of individual staff and reduced the staff of the staff agencies.
1994年以后的国会改革一般增加了个别工作人员的人数，减少了工作人员机构的工作人员。
This means that more legislation comes out of the offices of individual Congresspeople.
这意味着更多的立法来自于个别国会议员的办公室。
The last feature of Congress that I'm going to mention, briefly because their actual function and importance is nebulous, is the caucus system.
我要简要介绍的国会的最后一个特点是党团制度，因为它的实际功能和重要性是模糊的。
These are caucuses in Congress, so don't confuse them with the caucuses that some states use to choose candidates for office, like the ones in Iowa.
这些是国会的党团会议，所以不要把它们和一些州用来选择候选人的党团会议混淆，比如爱荷华州的党团会议。
Caucuses are semi-formal groups of Congresspeople organized around particular identities or interests.
党团会议是半正式的国会议员团体，以特定的身份或利益组织。
Semi-formal in this case doesn't mean that they wear suits and ties, it means that they don't have official function in the legislative process.
在这种情况下，半正式并不意味着他们穿西装打领带，而是意味着他们在立法过程中没有正式的职能。
But you know what?
但你知道吗?
Class it up a little - just try to look nice.
把它分类一下——尽量好看一点。
The Congressional Black Caucus is made up of the African American members of the legislature.
国会黑人同盟由立法机构的非裔美国人组成。
The Republican Study Group is the conservative caucus that meets to discuss conservative issues and develop legislative strategies.
共和党研究小组是保守派党团会议，讨论保守派问题和制定立法策略。
Since 2010 there is also a Tea Party caucus in Congress.
自2010年以来，国会中还有一个茶党党团委员会。
There are also caucuses for very specific interests like the Bike Caucus that focuses on cycling.
也有非常具体的兴趣小组，比如自行车小组，主要关注自行车运动。
There should also be a Beard Caucus, shouldn't there?
还应该有胡子委员会，不是吗?
Is there a Beard Caucus Stan?
有胡子委员会吗，斯坦?
No? What about an eagle punching caucus?
没有？那打击鹰队的核心委员会呢?
The purpose of these caucuses is for like minded people to gather and discuss ideas.
这些委员会的目的是让志同道合的人聚在一起讨论想法。
The caucuses can help members of Congress coordinate their efforts and also provide leadership opportunities for individual Congresspeople outside of the more formal structures of committees.
党团会议可以帮助国会议员协调他们的工作，也可以在委员会更正式的结构之外为个别的国会议员提供领导机会。
There are a lot of terms and details to remember, but here's the big thing to take away: caucuses, congressional staff, and especially committees, all exist to make the process of lawmaking more efficient.
有很多术语和细节需要记住，但有一件重要的事情需要记住:党团会议、国会工作人员，尤其是委员会，所有这些都是为了提高立法过程的效率而存在的。
In particular, committees and staff allow individual legislators to develop expertise; this is the theory anyway.
委员会和工作人员特别允许个别议员发展专门知识；这就是理论。
Yes it's a theory. Committees also serve a political function of helping Congresspeople build an identity for voters that should help them get elected.
是的，这是一种理论。委员会还发挥政治作用，帮助国会议员为选民建立身份，帮助他们当选。
In some ways this is just as important in the role in the process of making actual legislation.
在某些方面，这在制定实际立法的过程中同样重要。
When Congress doesn't pass many laws, committee membership, or better yet, being a committee chair is one of the only ways that a Congressperson can distinguish him or herself.
当国会没有通过许多法律，委员会成员，或者更好的是，成为一个委员会主席是唯一的方式之一国会议员可以区分他或她自己。
At least it gives you something more to learn about incumbents when you're making your voting choices.
至少当你做投票选择的时候，它能让你对现任者有更多的了解。
Thanks for watching.
感谢收看。
I'll see you next week.
下周见。
Crash Course is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios.
《政府与政治速成课》是与PBS数字工作室联合制作的。
Support for Crash Course US Government comes from Voqal.
对《美国政府速成班》的支持来自Voqal。
Voqal supports nonprofits that use technology and media to advance social equity.
Voqal支持利用技术和媒体促进社会公平的非营利组织。
Learn more about their mission and initiatives at voqal.org.
在Voqal.org了解更多关于他们的使命和倡议。
Crash Course is made with all of these lovely people.
《速成班》是由所有这些善良的人制作的。
Thanks for watching.
谢谢收看。
Staffer! Coffee! Please. Thank you.
职员！咖啡！拜托。谢谢你！
