[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 93 (Thursday, June 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H5698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   MAKE ENGLISH OUR OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

  (Mr. ROTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Speaker for endorsing 
English as our official language yesterday in his speech before the 
Iowa Chamber of Commerce. It is a fight I have been engaged in for a 
long time.
  We Americans are a people from every corner of the globe, every 
religion, every ethnic background you can think of, but we are one 
Nation, one people. Why? Because we have a wonderful commonality called 
the English language. We are losing that today and losing it very 
quickly. One out of seven Americans does not speak English. U.S.A. 
Today has reported that it costs some $12 billion a year at the 
Federal, State, and local level for bilingual education. I think it is 
time we go back to the concept again of one Nation, one people.
  In Los Angeles now you can vote in seven different languages. In many 
parts of the country English is not the language that is spoken. And 
while we want everyone to have a chance to protect their culture, speak 
any language they want at home, to protect their culture and promote 
their culture, I think it is very important when you deal with the 
Government, when you vote, you do it in the English language so we can 
keep our wonderful commonality, we can keep this common glue that has 
held our country together so we do remain one Nation, one people, one 
flag, and yes, one language.

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