奥巴马将与国会议员商讨预算问题

U.S. President Barack Obama is due to meet at the White House Friday with top Republican and Democratic lawmakers to discuss a last-ditch effort to avoid across-the-board budget cuts scheduled to take effect before the day is over.

美国总统奥巴马星期五将在白宫会见共和党和民主党的国会领导人，商讨如何在最后一刻做出努力，避免在今天限期之后全面削减开支计划自动生效。

The meeting is largely viewed as symbolic, after dueling bills to avoid the cuts were defeated in the Senate Thursday, making $85 billion in automatic spending cuts appear inevitable once the Friday deadline passes.

美国国会参议院星期四否决了旨在避免开支削减的相互竞争的法案，一旦星期五的最后期限过后，850亿美元的开支自动削减计划看来已经势在必行，因此奥巴马与议员们的这次会晤多半被认为属于象征性质。

President Obama has said the effects of the cuts on federal agencies - most notably defense, infrastructure spending, public schools and preschool care - will not be felt immediately, but instead will have what he calls a "tumble downward" effect. That means, the longer the cuts remain in place, the worse the damage they will cause.

奥巴马总统曾经表示，削减联邦各机构开支的影响不会立即被感受到，但将产生他称作的 "逐渐下滑 "的效应。那就是开支削减持续的时间越长，造成的损害就越大。最受到关注的是国防、基础设施经费、公立学校和学前教育等领域。

Defense employees are expected to be forced to take unpaid time off work, while funding for big infrastructure projects will eventually halt.

预计国防部员工将被迫接受无薪休假，同时对大型基础设施项目最终也将停止提供资金。