米議会、土壇場で債務不履行回避へ ― down to the wire

ここのところずっと注目されていたアメリカでの国債の上限引き上げ問題ですが、ようやく共和党と民主党が折り合い、デフォルト（債務不履行）のリスクが当面回避されることになったようです。


(Reuters) - The U.S. Congress on Wednesday approved an 11th-hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world's biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity.

Capping weeks of political brinkmanship that had unnerved global markets, President Barack Obama quickly signed the spending measure, which passed the Senate and House of Representatives after Republicans dropped efforts to use the legislation to force changes in his signature healthcare law.

The White House budget office told hundreds of thousands of federal workers, the bulk of whom had been idle for the past 16 days, to be ready to return to work on Thursday.

The down-to-the-wire deal, however, offers only a temporary fix and does not resolve the fundamental issues of spending and deficits that divide Republicans and Democrats. It funds the government until January 15 and raises the debt ceiling until February 7, so Americans face the possibility of another bitter budget fight and another government shutdown early next year.
(U.S. Congress ends default threat, Obama signs debt bill. Reuters. October 17, 2013.)


サービスを停止していた政府関連機関の職員も、16日間の自宅待機からようやく職場復帰することになるようです。

さて、今日取り上げる表現は、"down-to-the-wire"です。

"down to the wire"とは、上記引用の冒頭に出てくる"11th-hour"という表現とほぼ同義で、ぎりぎりのところで、土壇場で、というような意味です。

実は以前に、"under the wire"という表現を取り上げたことがありますが、これらの成句に出てくる"wire"とは陸上競技レースでのゴール（フィニッシュ）ラインを指す単語です。