奧巴馬呼籲提高債務上限並支持合理控槍大綱

U.S. President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to quickly approve an increase in the country's borrowing limit and says he supports "sensible" new gun controls to try to prevent more mass shootings in the country.

Less than a week before he starts his second term, Mr. Obama said at a White House news conference Monday that it would be "irresponsible" for his political opponents in Congress to even consider not raising the country's $16.4 trillion borrowing limit in the coming weeks.

The U.S. has already reached the debt ceiling, but has enough money to continue paying its bills for several weeks. The president said the borrowing limit needs to be increased, not so that government spending can be boosted, but so the U.S. can meet financial obligations it has already incurred.

On gun control, the president said he expects to receive a list of "sensible and common sense steps" from his special task force on preventing gun violence. He said he would meet later in the day with Vice President Joe Biden, who chaired the task force, to discuss the proposals.

While he declined to provide specifics, Mr. Obama repeated his stance that he believes that stronger background checks, tighter control of high-capacity ammunition clips and an assault weapons ban are all proposals that make sense.

Mr. Obama's news conference came a month after a man shocked the nation by going on a shooting rampage at an elementary school in the northeastern state of Connecticut, leaving 20 children and six adults dead.美國總統奧巴馬呼籲國會盡快通過增加美國借貸上限的法案。奧巴馬錶示，他支持採取明智的槍支管制新措施，以防止美國出現更多的大型槍殺案。

在開始第二任總統任期的幾天前，奧巴馬在白宮舉行的記者會上說，如果國會中的共和黨人不在未來幾個星期中考慮提高美國16.4萬億美元的借貸上限，那將是“不負責任”的。

美國目前已經達到債務上限，但在未來幾星期中還有足夠資金來支付賬單。奧巴馬總統說，美國必須提高借貸上限，這不是因爲政府就此可以增加開支，而是隻有這樣美國才能兌現已做出的財政承諾。

在槍支管制方面，奧巴馬總統說，他期待從他任命的防止槍支暴力特別行動小組那裏得到一份“明智而且符合常理的步驟”清單。奧巴馬說，他稍後將和負責特別行動小組的副總統拜登碰面，討論有關提議。

儘管奧巴馬拒絕提供細節，但他重申，他相信更嚴格的背景調查、加緊控制大容量彈匣並禁止攻擊性武器都是合理的提議。

在奧巴馬舉行這次記者會的1個月前，美國東北部的康涅狄克州發生了令人震驚的小學校園槍殺案，導致20名學童和6名成人喪生。