[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S11680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Burns, Mr. 
        Sessions, Mr. Graham of South Carolina, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. 
        Roberts, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Craig, Mr. Allard, Mr. 
        Coleman, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. McConnell, 
        Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. 
        Lott, Mr. Domenici, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. McCain, Mr. Kyl, Mr. 
        Ensign, Mrs. Dole, Mr. Santorum, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Allen, and 
        Mr. Chambliss):
  S. 1628. A bill to prescribe the oath of renunciation and allegiance 
for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act; to the Committee 
on the Judiciary.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today is Citizenship Day. On this day 
in 1787 the Constitution of the United States was signed. In 1952, 
Congress passed a law designating Citizenship Day on this day with the 
intent of recognizing those who had become American citizens during the 
preceding year.
  In the ceremony where an immigrant becomes a naturalized citizen of 
this country, where he or she becomes a new American, he or she swears 
an oath of renunciation and allegiance.
  Last week, on September 11, I noted that the oath of allegiance is 
currently a matter of mere Federal regulation and not a matter of law. 
I said that Congress ought to enshrine the oath in law.
  Today, on behalf of Mr. Burns, Mr. Sessions, and 30 Members of the 
Senate, I rise to introduce legislation to do precisely that--to make 
the current oath of allegiance the law of the land. Doing so will give 
the oath of allegiance the same status enjoyed by other key symbols and 
statements of being an American--the American flag, the Pledge of 
Allegiance, the national anthem, and our national motto. All these 
symbols and statements have been specifically approved by Congress and 
are now a matter of law. The oath of allegiance ought to be treated 
with the same dignity.
  The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services--or BCIS--an 
agency of the Department of Homeland Security, was recently planning to 
change the oath of allegiance that immigrants take to become a citizen 
of this Nation. While those changes seem now to be on hold, it seems 
inappropriate to me that the BCIS, or any other Government agency, no 
matter how well intentioned, should have the power to alter the oath 
without congressional approval.
  In the first 5 months of this fiscal year, 166,968 immigrants took 
the oath and were naturalized as new citizens of this country.
  The oath assumed its present form in the 1950s and was first adopted 
in Federal regulations in 1929. But some of the language dates all the 
way back to 1790.
  Yesterday, I attended a naturalization ceremony for new citizens. 
They were proud to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. 
They were proud to become Americans. This is the oath they took to 
become U.S. citizens--the oath which will become law if the bill I will 
introduce today should pass and be signed by the President.
  I quote:

       I--and the citizen states his or her name--hereby declare, 
     on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure 
     all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, 
     state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been 
     a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the 
     Constitution and laws of the United States of America against 
     all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true 
     faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on 
     behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I 
     will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the 
     United States when required by the law; that I will perform 
     work of national importance under civilian direction when 
     required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely 
     without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help 
     me God.

  That is the oath of allegiance. That is quite an oath. It has 
strength. It has clarity. It sounds as if it might have been written by 
some rowdy patriots in Philadelphia or Williamsburg.
  Yet, surprisingly, Congress has never voted on the content of this 
oath. We have left it to Federal regulators. It is time to protect it.
  This is a straightforward bill that simply codifies the oath of 
allegiance as it presently stands. The bill I introduce today has, as I 
mentioned, already attracted 30 cosponsors, including the distinguished 
Senator from North Carolina who is presiding today.
  I hope more Senators will join us in protecting this key statement on 
what it means to become an American.
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