White House says stimulus saving education jobs
Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:06pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Monday its economic stimulus had saved or created 250,000 education jobs, as it sought to push back against Republicans who contend the package was wasteful and had not worked.
Faced with pressure to act to help spur job growth with the U.S. unemployment rate at 9.8 percent, President Barack Obama is considering new steps to help the economy, on top of the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier this year.
But those discussions are in the preliminary stages and Obama may be constrained in what he can do, given the record $1.4 trillion budget deficit.
The administration has been trying to make the case that the stimulus package has helped offset what otherwise would have been much worse job losses.
U.S. Vice President Biden said in a statement that the stimulus was "helping soften the blow of tough times, by keeping educators on the job and teachers in the classroom."
The statement said the stimulus money was helping states fill budget gaps that otherwise would have resulted in big job losses for school districts and universities.
(Reporting by Caren Bohan; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
source: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE59I1G120091019
push back against
push back原意将物体放归原位，此处指奥巴马政权面对共和党的不满予以回应。因奥巴马为总统身份，不能fight back或对政治对立方公开使用过于严厉的措辞，因而文中使用push back含有点到即止的意思。
contend the package was wastful and had not worked
美国共和党坚称奥巴马政权的经济刺激一揽子方案浪费了纳税人钱财且毫无效果
spur job growth with the U.S. unemployment rate at 9.8 percent
spur原指骑手的马刺，此处指美国政府通过财政经济等手段促使经济恢复、推动就业率增长回升；with在此处用于表示状态，即当前美国劳动力市场失业率达9.8个百分点。
on top of: in addition to
Obama may be constrained in what he can do, given the record...
given表示在考虑到……的情况下；be constrained in意为受到限制而不得不面对不利的情况或做不愿意的事，constrain与limit（限制）近意，意味着其后的举措可能并非奥巴马总统本意，即继续投入资金来刺激和恢复经济，因他所能运用的资源有限；may暗示了其考虑的举措很可能无法实施。
make the case that the stimulus package...: 提出经济刺激政策（在教育领域）收到良好效果的有利证据，即该方案已使局面好转，若非如此，结果将是更大量的失业状况。
helping soften the blow of tough times
soften为缓和的意思，即减轻困难时期对时局产生的冲击。