芝加哥市长动用第四次否决权：挡下举债门槛法案，市议会下周挑战推翻
芝加哥市长布兰登·约翰逊（Brandon Johnson）10月9日动用任内第四次否决权，否决了市议会通过的一项法案。该法案要求市政府今后发行市政债券须获得市议会30票的超级多数支持，而非目前的简单多数。市议会下周将尝试以34票推翻否决，一场府会摊牌迫在眉睫。
这项由即将退休的市议员马蒂·奎因（Marty Quinn，第13区）推动的改革法案，于9月29日以32票赞成、15票反对在市议会通过。约翰逊在致市书记官的否决信中写道：「基础设施需求最大的社区，不应为争取必要的公共投资而面临额外障碍。」他警告，拖延基建项目会推高建设成本、加剧设施老化，「最终让纳税人付出更多」。
约翰逊还指出，30票的门槛高于通过全市166亿美元预算所需的26票，「也高于提交到这个机构面前的任何其他重大事项」。他此前曾把该法案称为「五分之三妥协」，影射美国宪法中曾将黑奴计为五分之三人口的条款，暗示法案带有种族动机——尽管包括财政委员会主席帕特·道威尔（Pat Dowell）在内的多名非裔市议员投票支持了该法案。
奎因9月29日当天就预料到会被否决。他承认，凑齐推翻否决所需的34票「很有难度」——他此前在市长否决大麻销售禁令法案后，已有一次推翻失败的经历。不过奎因10月9日表示仍会一试，并把目标锁定在9月29日投票前离席的三名市议员：丹尼尔·拉·斯帕塔（Daniel La Spata，第1区）、克里斯·塔利亚费罗（Chris Taliaferro，第29区）和安德烈·巴斯克斯（Andre Vasquez，第40区）。
这场较量发生在芝加哥2026年预算博弈的敏感时刻：市议会此前通过的166亿美元「替代预算」包含视频博彩终端合法化等增收条款，约翰逊既未签署也未否决、任其明年1月1日自动生效。如今举债门槛之争，成为府会围绕财政纪律与基建投资的又一回合。据芝加哥本地媒体10月10日报道，推翻投票预计下周举行，结果将决定这座美国第三大城市未来举债的游戏规则。
Chicago Mayor Johnson Uses Fourth Veto to Block Debt-Threshold Ordinance; Override Vote Looms
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on October 9 used his fourth veto to kill a City Council ordinance that would require a 30-vote supermajority to approve city borrowing, instead of the current simple majority. The Council will try next week to override the veto with 34 votes, setting up a City Hall showdown.
The reform, championed by retiring Ald. Marty Quinn (13th), passed the Council 32-15 on September 29. In his veto letter to the city clerk, Johnson wrote: "Neighborhoods with the greatest infrastructure needs should not face additional barriers to securing essential public investment." He warned that delaying infrastructure projects "can increase construction costs, worsen deterioration and ultimately cost taxpayers more."
Johnson also noted the 30-vote threshold is higher than the 26 votes needed to approve the city's $16.6 billion budget "or any other critical matter that comes before this body." He had previously branded the measure a "three-fifths compromise," invoking the constitutional clause that once counted enslaved Black people as three-fifths of a person — even though several Black aldermen, including Finance Committee Chair Pat Dowell, voted for it.
Quinn expected the veto and conceded that reaching the 34 votes needed for an override would be "a reach" — he already failed once to override Johnson's veto of a hemp-sales ban. But Quinn said Friday he would try anyway, targeting three aldermen who left before the September 29 roll call: Daniel La Spata (1st), Chris Taliaferro (29th) and Andre Vasquez (40th).
The fight comes at a sensitive moment in Chicago's 2026 budget battle: the Council's $16.6 billion "alternative" budget, including legalized video gaming terminals, takes effect January 1 after Johnson let it become law without his signature. The debt-threshold fight is the latest round in the struggle over fiscal discipline versus infrastructure investment. According to Chicago local media reports on October 10, the override vote is expected next week and will set the borrowing rules for America's third-largest city.
图片来源：芝加哥市政厅正门现状，ajay_suresh 摄，CC BY 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）
