[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7524-7525]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             ENGLISH UNITES

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, on Monday night, with unanimous 
support, the Senate passed resolution No. 458 that I sponsored, along 
with 12 other Senators, affirming that the Pledge of Allegiance and the 
National Anthem be said or sung in the language that unites us as one 
Nation, that language being English.
  This was more than bipartisan. It was unanimous, with one dissent 
expressed on the other side. It should be virtually unanimous.
  This is the land of immigrants. Almost all Americans know we need and 
must value our common language, which is English. Yet during the last 
week, the idea of a non-binding resolution expressing the Senate's 
thought that whenever we say the Pledge of Allegiance, sing the Star-
Spangled Banner, take the oath of citizenship, that it ought to be in 
our common language, produced quite a little storm across the country. 
Some said we were restricting liberty.
  But this not about what we are free to do; this is about what we 
ought to do at the opening of the Senate, at the opening of a ball game 
or Boy or Girl Scout troop meeting. As Americans, we are free to sing 
the Star-Spangled Banner in Swahili, we are free to say the Pledge of 
Allegiance in pig Latin, but that is not what we ought to do. And the 
Senate, by unanimous consent, said that on Monday night.
  Some said this was disrespect for other languages. Nothing could be 
further from the truth. I believe our official documents ought to be in 
our common language. I have always favored, including when I was 
Education Secretary of this country, what I call ``English plus.'' The 
luckiest among us are those who know more than one language, but one of 
those must be English. Children should learn it as quickly as possible 
if they want to succeed in the United States of America.
  The real reason for the storm of reaction to the singing of the Star-
Spangled Banner in a foreign language is that most Americans 
instinctively understand that while diversity is important, unity is 
more precious. That is why we pledge allegiance to the American flag 
rather than the flags of the countries from which our ancestors came. 
That is why most of our politics is about principles upon which we 
agree, principles found in our founding documents. That is why we give 
rights to individuals instead of to groups. That is why we honor our 
common language, English.
  In Sunday's Washington Post, a Chilean-American playwright, a 
professor at Duke, said our country is well on its way to becoming a 
bilingual nation and that he thought we would endure just fine. I 
respectfully disagree. I think it would make it harder for us to 
endure. I think it would make us more a United Nations than the United 
States of America.
  Now the Senate unanimously agrees. So does the mayor of Los Angeles, 
an Hispanic American. Antonio Villaraigosa said:

       I was offended by the idea of a national anthem in another 
     language because for me the

[[Page 7525]]

     national anthem is something that deserves respect. Without 
     question the vast majority of people in the United States 
     were offended, as well. Our anthem should be spoken English.

  So says New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Hispanic American, who 
said on the ``CBS Early Show'' last week:

       I agree. The national anthem should be in English. Most 
     immigrants want to become American. They want to learn 
     English. They want to be part of the American mainstream.

  Twelve cosponsoring Senators agree. Many Democrats in the House of 
Representatives have joined as cosponsors. Senator Conrad from North 
Dakota spoke on this in the Senate last week and said:

       A common language is absolutely essential to our Nation. I 
     look to our neighbors to the north [meaning Canada] and see 
     incredible traumas they have been through because they are 
     speaking in two different languages. My own strong belief is 
     we ought to say the pledge in English and sing the national 
     anthem in English.

  Ramon Cisneros, the publisher of a Spanish language newspaper in 
Nashville, e-mailed me:

       Thank you for the resolution. Our common language as 
     Americans is and will always be English. Our national symbol 
     should always be said and sung in English.

  We have worked hard to make English our common language, creating 
common schools, requiring new citizens to learn English to the eighth 
grade level. The Senate last week passed grants to help prospective 
citizens learn English. We welcome legal immigrants to this country. 
But we expect they will become American, that they will learn our 
common language, English, that they will learn our history, that they 
will subscribe to our values as found in the Declaration of 
Independence and Constitution, and when they became citizens, they will 
renounce allegiance to their former government and swear allegiance to 
our laws and Constitution. That is what holds us together as the United 
States of America.
  So I am glad, in conclusion, that as the Senate stood together for 
our economic identity as Americans, it did it unanimously and passed 
our resolution affirming that statements of national unity, including 
the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem, should be said or 
sung in our common language, English.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.

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