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Shadowing practice: Trump's limits are tested after some Republicans push back

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
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Full transcript

  1. Welcome to the news hour.0:00
  2. The Senate is in the midst of voting on $72 billion of fresh funding for border patrol and immigration and customs enforcement.0:01
  3. The package has been held up for months since federal agents killed two U .S.0:09
  4. citizens protesting immigration crackdowns in Minnesota.0:13
  5. It stalled again when the Trump administration proposed nearly $2 billion for his so -called anti -weaponization fund, which could compensate January 6 rioters.0:17
  6. Amendment votes are expected to run well into the night, but it's still unclear at this hour whether Republican leaders will ultimately be able to wrangle enough votes to pass0:26
  7. the measure.0:35
  8. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is here with the latest on that measure and the other Capitol Hill debates driving a wedge between legislative leaders and President Donald Trump.0:36
  9. Lisa, it's good to see you.0:45
  10. Good to see you.0:46
  11. So where do things stand right now when it comes to funding for ICE and this anti -weaponization fund?0:47
  12. After eight months, it does look like the ICE funding is lumbering perhaps toward passage today on the Senate floor, but the process is tedious.0:51
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  1. As you can see, this is that process called voter -rama.0:59
  2. It is definitely not as fun as that indicates.1:02
  3. It is really more of a stare down at the process of exhausting senators through an endless series of amendments.1:05
  4. But I am told it could end as soon as tonight on the floor.1:11
  5. Now, in this debate, the two parties are not just divided.1:15
  6. They really are having two separate debates.1:18
  7. First of all, for Republicans, this is about the ICE funding, about the border, and about what they say is a debate over security itself.1:22
  8. What you get is a secure border versus a broken border.1:31
  9. What you get is ICE being able to do its job instead of being closed for business.1:35
  10. To my Democratic colleagues, you're on the wrong side of this issue.1:41
  11. You will find out in November.1:44
  12. But Democrats disagree.1:46
  13. For them, this is still about ICE conduct, what you just reported.1:47
  14. But it is also specifically about the president's anti -weaponization fund.1:51
  15. His attorney general, his acting attorney general, said that it's not moving forward.1:55
  16. But Democrats don't trust that.1:58
  17. They think it needs to be codified and put into law now.2:00
  18. Do we believe, do any of us believe, that Donald Trump, who has lied to us day in and day out, will be able to resist getting his sticky fingers2:06
  19. in the slush fund when it would benefit himself and his family?2:15
  20. So they are pushing for a law to ban it.2:19
  21. Why are Democrats pushing for that in a separate ICE funding bill?2:21
  22. The answer is actually simple, because they can.2:26
  23. This special process allows them to do that.2:28
  24. Interestingly enough, I'm not Republicans.2:31
  25. Many of them tell me they also want to have something codified to outlaw this kind of thing, including Lindsey Graham, who I just spoke with.2:33
  26. You heard from him there on the floor.2:40
  27. He says he's open to something like that, and he thinks the president might be able to accept it.2:42
  28. So we'll watch carefully.2:46
  29. We'll watch and see separately, Lisa.2:48
  30. I have to ask you, President Trump received what's probably the strongest rebuke yet from Congress yesterday when the House voted to end the war in Iran.2:49
  31. What happened and what does it mean?2:57
  32. That's right.2:59
  33. This was significant on the House floor, a vote of 215 to 208 to block the president's actions in a war, an assertion of Congress's war power altogether.2:59
  34. How did it happen?3:10
  35. Four Republicans joined with Democrats, there they are right there, to vote to block that war and block any more action in Iran.3:10
  36. For now, House Republican leaders are holding onto that bill.3:19
  37. It's a certain kind of resolution, a concurrent resolution, to become law.3:22
  38. It would also need Senate passage and the president to not veto it.3:26
  39. We do expect the Senate to hold a different vote on Iran in coming weeks, but this was a very strong statement, whether or not it leads to any changes3:30
  40. in war policy.3:39
  41. Another question we know senators are going to face soon.3:40
  42. The president said he's going to nominate to act on a permanent basis as attorney general, the current acting attorney general, Todd Blanche.3:42
  43. What do we think will happen?3:49
  44. Yeah, Mr.3:50
  45. Blanche has had a lot of face time with senators lately over that anti -weaponization fund that is not popular with Republicans.3:50
  46. Now, right now there are senators telling me behind the scenes that they have doubts with him, especially because of that fund and because he was the personal attorney to3:56
  47. the president, but more of them publicly say they favor him.4:04
  48. One said they thought this man, their fellow senator Eric Schmidt, was going to be the nominee.4:07
  49. So that's another sort of pause for senators.4:12
  50. But I think in the end it reminds me of when perhaps Pete Higgs Heth was nominated and senators had a lot of problems behind the scenes, but in the4:15
  51. end Trump pushed him through.4:22
  52. This could go either way, but I see the winds blowing in Todd Blanche's direction.4:24
  53. All right, Lisa Deschardin covering it all as usual.4:29
  54. Lisa, thank you.4:31
  55. You're welcome.4:32

A B2 news segment for american accent training

This clip is a PBS NewsHour handoff between an anchor and congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins, covering a live Senate vote on border patrol and ICE funding. It sits at B2 and runs at 210 words per minute, faster than most of the catalogue, so it is a solid workout for american accent training on real broadcast speech rather than scripted dialogue.

The topic itself gives you dense, specific vocabulary: an anti weaponization fund, amendment votes, a process called voter rama. None of it is small talk, which is exactly why it is useful for english listening practice. You have to track named things (ICE, the Senate floor, January 6 rioters) while the pace keeps moving, the way a real newscast does.

Lines to shadow for english speaking practice

Three lines carry the rhythm of this segment and reward being shadowed on their own before you touch the whole clip.

  • "The Senate is in the midst of voting on $72 billion of fresh funding for border patrol and immigration and customs enforcement." One long sentence, no pause. Practise it as a single breath group and you feel how a newscaster keeps momentum through a number and three nouns in a row.
  • "After eight months, it does look like the ICE funding is lumbering perhaps toward passage today on the Senate floor, but the process is tedious." The correspondent's own word choice, lumbering, tedious, is doing the work here. Say it with the same flat, tired stress she uses and you are practising how English carries attitude through word choice, not just tone.
  • "What you get is a secure border versus a broken border." A short, punchy contrast line. Repeat it a few times and listen for how secure and broken get the heavier stress, that is the pattern worth copying for anything you say that sets up two opposing options.

Working through the Senate funding segment line by line

Do not start at full speed. This is B2 material with a fast anchor pace, and the payoff is in the specific lines, not in getting through the whole clip once.

  • Play line 2 alone first, the $72 billion sentence, until you can say it without slowing down at the number.
  • Move to line 12, the lumbering line, and shadow it for tone before worrying about matching every word.
  • Take line 15, "It is really more of a stare down at the process of exhausting senators through an endless series of amendments," and break it at the commas rather than trying to say it in one push.
  • Pair lines 20 and 21, the secure border and ICE being able to do its job lines, back to back. They are built the same way, so shadowing them together locks in the contrast pattern faster than practising them apart.
  • Only then run the segment from line 1 straight through, checking your score against the lines you already drilled.
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