Thread: English-only advocates see barriers to bill easing up

English-only advocates see barriers to bill easing up
By Lou Dobbs
CNN
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Posted: 11:34 AM EDT (1534 GMT)

(CNN) -- It's official in Zimbabwe and Belize, but not in the United States. This country is a notable exception to the 51 nations in which English is an official language. But a new bill in Congress aims to change that.

The English Language Unity Act of 2005 is only the latest of many attempts to make English the official language of the United States. The bill's sponsor, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, also tried to get the bill past the 108th Congress, but it stalled in the House of Representatives.

A similar bill passed the House in 1996 but expired when the Senate failed to act on it. Previous versions have passed the Senate but died in the House. Overall, Congress has been dismissing official-English legislation for more than two decades.



Gabriela Lemus, director of policy and legislation at the League of United Latin American Citizens, said it's a given that "in order to make it in this country, you have to speak English."

Lemus said the bill has little chance to gain support in Congress, as any party embracing the issue would risk alienating the Hispanic community in the United States.

But surveys show that the public would support the legislation. A 2004 Zogby poll released by U.S. English found that more than four out of five Americans favor making English the official language.

Proponents have been successful at the state level. Beginning with Louisiana in 1812, 27 states have adopted some form of official-English law.

Despite having the smallest percentage of foreign-language speakers in the country, West Virginia nearly became the 28th state to approve English-only legislation. West Virginia's Legislature passed the bill, but Gov. Joe Manchin vetoed it last weekend because of a technical flaw in the drafting of the bill.

The Arizona Legislature is evaluating another such bill. If passed by the state Senate, the measure would go to voters in 2006. Arizona passed English-only legislation in the late 1980s, but the state's Supreme Court found it violated the First Amendment.

Toonkel said that bill, which was drafted without U.S. English's backing, tried to limit communications in other languages. But U.S. English is confident the current federal bill will not present any constitutional conflicts, he said.

Lemus said the bill has little chance to gain support in Congress, as any party embracing the issue would risk alienating the Hispanic community in the United States.

Who is Lemus and since when did the Hispanic's become the majority in Congress?

Exactly. Why are THEIR voices so important and our 88% don't matter one whit? Is it because we're not up there in their faces all the time? We might consider changing that. Do you think we could get $400,000 in federal grants to lobby congress as El Pueblo does?

Does anyone know how we could stop them from collecting those monies?? That's ridiculous.

RR

RR

Does anyone know how we could stop them from collecting those monies?? That's ridiculous

I just posted that we MUST research the possibility of a class action suit against Congress &/or the administration. They're derelict in their duty and also.........get this.........SOROS got MILLIONS from the government for his foundation!

Could it be that no one has ever pursued this possibility? I have zero legal knowledge but my common sense tells me that there must be something that can be utilized with all the actions against the Constitution over the past 60 years.

my 2 cents

I'm not absolutely certain but I think they have cta...I don't think we can sue the government per se. But I do think that we can sue individuals within the government....however, it would take one heckuva brave law office to take on that task.

It would be better if we could get enough support...say on a petition..to get impeachment proceedings started. I'm not sure how that's done...may have to be done via referendum vote...Tancredo said something tonight ( we were having dinner with lots of chaos afoot tonight when O'Reilly was on) about bringing charges of impeachment...perhaps we have to encourage congress to do it...??

It's a heck of a good idea, tho...if we could get some of the more outlandish ones running scared we'd have a chance of getting something done simply by scaring the others.

Sometimes in reading all that they have done and are considering doing that is totally unconstitutional makes me feel a bit overwhelmed. But getting the mess straightened out would be fairly easy if we adhered totally and completely with the constitution---just as the framers intended. Works then and it will work now...if we can get them back to it.

RR

RR wrote

perhaps we have to encourage congress to do it...??

It's a heck of a good idea, tho...if we could get some of the more outlandish ones running scared we'd have a chance of getting something done simply by scaring the others.

I've laughed so much today with you guys

?? CONGRESS impeaching EACHOTHER...........that would be fabulous!!

They are so afraid of alienating the illegals that they have no regard for the American citizens. This bill should have been passed LONG ago!