[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5735-S5736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. Enzi):
  S. 1335. A bill to amend title 4, United States Code, for declare 
English as the official language of the Government of the United 
States, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, last year I said that this Nation of 
immigrants requires an official language. An overwhelming majority of 
the Senate agreed with me on my amendment to that effect on the 
immigration bill. I am convinced that official English will command 
another majority should it receive a rollcall vote in this session. 
That is why today I am introducing S. 1335 to make English the official 
language of our Nation.
  The English language has played a critical role in establishing the 
unity of this Nation from its beginning. As I have said before, a 
common means of communication has created one giant market for goods 
and labor in our Nation, from Maine to California. A resident of Tulsa 
can seek work in New Hampshire, Oregon, or Georgia without having to 
learn a second language. A company based in Oklahoma City can readily 
sell its products from Portland, ME, to Los Angeles.
  In Europe, by contrast, a resident of Berlin cannot look for work in 
Paris or Warsaw without surmounting considerable language barriers. A 
German company cannot usually sell its product in Madrid, again, in 
part, because of language barriers. The European Union is an effort to 
create a U.S.-like common market in Western Europe. Among other things, 
Europeans are spending billions of euros to try to replicate what we in 
America have enjoyed for free these past 230 years.
  Recognizing that English is necessary for successful business and a 
growing economy, the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce recently announced 
that it is spearheading a multimillion dollar campaign to help about 
50,000 of its residents to learn the language. I regret to report that 
we have spent the last few decades giving away this priceless 
linguistic unity.
  Clinton Executive Order No. 13166 demands that all recipients of 
Federal funds function in any language anyone speaks at any time, 
burdening taxpayers with extraneous costs of an enabling policy while 
providing incentives for immigrants to circumvent learning English and, 
regretfully, hurt their chances at effective assimilation.
  My constituents agree that foreign language ballots deserve no place 
in an American election. My bill will eliminate these foreign language 
voting materials and multilingual voting mandates imposed on Oklahoma 
and other States. Only citizens are allowed to vote in our Nation, and 
one of the requirements to become a good citizen is to show an 
understanding of English. Money to provide foreign language ballots 
would be better spent on such constructive activities as simply 
teaching people how to speak English.
  Not only does my bill repeal foreign language ballots, it is aimed at 
the entire forest of mandatory multilingualism. My legislation 
basically recognizes the practical reality of the role of English as 
our official language and states explicitly that English is our 
official language and provides English a status in law it has not held 
before. Making English the official language will clarify that there is 
no entitlement to receive Federal documents and services in languages 
other than English and will end the practice of providing translation 
entitlements at taxpayer expense.
  My bill declares that any rights of a person, as well as services or 
materials in languages other than English, must be authorized or 
provided by law. It recognizes the decades of unbroken court opinions 
that civil rights laws protecting against national origin and 
discrimination do not create rights to government service and materials 
in languages other than English. While my bill will end federally 
mandated and funded foreign language entitlement, it certainly still 
allows for Democratic and Republican activists to offer palm cards and 
sample ballots in any language they wish--from Cherokee to Chinese--on 
election day and for individuals to bring along their own translaters 
to any Federal Government office.
  It is important to note that my bill only affects the language spoken 
by the Government, not the language choices of people speaking among 
themselves.
  Official English is popular even among Hispanics. As I have cited 
before on the floor of the Senate, in 2006, a Zogby poll found 84 
percent of Americans, including 71 percent of Hispanics,

[[Page S5736]]

believe that English should be the national language of government 
operations. According to a 2002 Kaiser Family Foundation survey, a poll 
of 91 percent of foreign-born Latino immigrants agreed that learning 
English is essential to succeed in the United States.
  Allow me to conclude by remembering the founder of the official 
English movement, U.S. Senator S.I. Hayakawa. The son of Asian 
immigrants, S.I. Hayakawa became a professor of English, a college 
president, and, in 1976, a U.S. Senator. Senator Hayakawa became the 
leader of the official English effort in this Chamber when he 
introduced an official English bill on April 27, 1981. Senator Hayakawa 
used to say ``bilingualism for the individual is fine but not for a 
country.'' While I never served with Senator Hayakawa, I would like to 
honor his efforts and continue his important work by offering the S.I. 
Hayakawa Official English Act of 2007, which is S. 1335.
  Let me say, it seems so ridiculous that as we travel around the 
world, there are some 51 countries that have English as their official 
language, and yet the United States doesn't. I was recently in Ghana, 
West Africa. They have English as their official language. We don't 
have it in the United States.
  Zambia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe have English as their official language 
but not the United States. This is something that should be a no-
brainer. Of the 80-some percent of the people polled, up to 91 percent 
want English as the official language, and yet, for some unknown 
reason, people seem to be catering to some maybe small, radical group 
that doesn't want it. I think it is time for the majority of the 
American people to realize this could very well be the reality.
  Let me also say, when I had this amendment on the floor before, there 
were all kinds of objections that came down that didn't have any 
credibility at all. One of them that came down said: Well, you have all 
these flags of the various States that have foreign languages; you 
would have to do away with State flags. This has nothing to do with 
that. One came down that said: You would no longer be able to use 
Spanish on the floor of the Senate. It has nothing to do with that. 
They said: You would be drowning Hispanics. I said: Explain that to me. 
They said: Well, we have ``no swimming'' signs in the Potomac where the 
currents are very strong, so people would go in there and they would 
drown. This is how desperate people are to find something objectionable 
about something that 90 percent of the people in America want.
  So we are very serious about this. We are going to carry on the works 
of the good Senator from California and hopefully respond to 90 percent 
of Americans who want English as an official language.
                                 ______