[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 13 (Wednesday, February 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E168-E169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ENGLISH MUST BECOME OUR OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. BOB STUMP

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 5, 1997

  Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, the notion that our Government should address 
all citizens in English and encourage all citizens to learn the 
language seems simple common sense. This is the primary reason that 
when the issue has been voted on in statewide referendums, it has not 
lost. California, Florida, Colorado, and my own State of Arizona have 
all chosen to make English their official State language. The bill I am 
introducing today, the Declaration of Official Language Act, follows 
State governments and localities in designating English as the official 
language of our Federal Government. It has the strong support of 
citizen organizations such as English First and the Veterans of Foreign 
Wars as evidenced by their letters of endorsement I have included for 
the Record.
  Not only do many American people generally agree on the matter, but 
so do our Nation's immigrants and language minorities. The Latino 
National Political Survey data released on December 15, 1992, shows 
Hispanics, even recent immigrants, speak English and want their 
children to learn English. Hispanics agreed by more than 90 percent 
that U.S. residents should learn English to take full advantage of the 
services afforded to them. As these immigrants know, English is the 
language of opportunity in America.
  Unfortunately, our Federal Government encourages official 
bilingualism. The practice of producing Government documents in 
multiple languages assumes that being given translations of official 
Government documents easily helps those who do not speak English. This 
logic goes against what bilingual individuals know all too well. 
Providing a word-for-word translation of anything between two languages 
is often impossible.

[[Page E169]]

  One area that this is most evident is in bilingual voting. The Voting 
Rights Act requires localities with populations over a certain 
proportion of the population to provide all materials in the 
language(s) of the affected populations, even if the language does not 
have a written form. This opens the door to fraud and misrepresentation 
of issues by interpreters. Inaccurate bilingual voting materials are a 
costly burden on State and local governments, and is neither effective 
nor a low cost method of ensuring anyone's right to vote.
  Nothing in my legislation prevents a State, locality, political 
party, or individual from providing multilingual voting assistance. 
Localities will be free to adopt the approach that serves their 
constituencies best. Given that bilingual ballots have been both 
inaccurate and expensive, other approaches might be more helpful.
  Multilingual Government services such as these are simply too costly 
in a nation in which more than 320 languages are spoken. It only makes 
sense to designate one common language for all official Government 
business. That is why I am introducing this important legislation.
  It is time the Government came to the same conclusion as the rest of 
the American people: English should be our official language. English 
has enabled this Nation to be something unique in history, a true 
Nation of immigrants. English is the language of future opportunity for 
all our Nation's citizens. Official English is really just common 
sense.

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