[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H9707]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            PUTTING AMERICA AGAINST ITS OWN IMMIGRANT ROOTS

  (Mr. RICHARDSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, another Democratic initiative, health 
care and insurance reform, will soon become law, affecting millions of 
Americans. The Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, which reforms insurance 
portability and preexisting conditions in insurance, will permit us to 
go home and say, rightfully, that this is not a do-nothing Congress.
  But along with same-sex marriage, abortion, and illegal immigration, 
Republicans are looking for another wedge issue to divide the country 
and get some votes. They have found it in ``English Only,'' an 
initiative that puts America against its own immigrant roots and the 
sweeping tides of history.

                              {time}  1015

  It tells the billions that are watching the Olympics in Atlanta that 
America is saying that any language besides English is not important. 
``English Only'' is bad for business, since most of our commerce is 
done in other languages. It is bad for tourism. It is a bad nativist, 
isolationist initiative that the Congress should reject summarily.

                          ____________________