奥巴马呼吁提高债务上限并支持合理控枪

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.

在开始第二任总统任期的几天前，奥巴马在白宫举行的记者会上说，如果国会中的共和党人不在未来几个星期中考虑提高美国16.4万亿美元的借贷上限，那将是“不负责任”的。

美国目前已经达到债务上限，但在未来几星期中还有足够资金来支付账单。奥巴马总统说，美国必须提高借贷上限，这不是因为政府就此可以增加开支，而是只有这样美国才能兑现已做出的财政承诺。

在枪支管制方面，奥巴马总统说，他期待从他任命的防止枪支暴力特别行动小组那里得到一份“明智而且符合常理的步骤”清单。奥巴马说，他稍后将和负责特别行动小组的副总统拜登碰面，讨论有关提议。

尽管奥巴马拒绝提供细节，但他重申，他相信更严格的背景调查、加紧控制大容量弹匣并禁止攻击性武器都是合理的提议。

在奥巴马举行这次记者会的1个月前，美国东北部的康涅狄克州发生了令人震惊的小学校园枪杀案，导致20名学童和6名成人丧生。