Thread: Support grows to make English official

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070 ... -8297r.htm

Support grows to make English official
January 22, 2007

The push to make English the nation's official language is building momentum, with a congressional bill on the horizon and seven states pushing legislation to make English the official language or to strengthen laws already in place.

"There's been such strong support," said Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican. "And it's gaining momentum."

Mr. King is expected next month to reintroduce the English Language Unity Act, which seeks to make English the nation's official language. However, he said that timetable had been postponed until House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could complete the Democrats' "first 100 hours" agenda. "Nancy Pelosi has us under martial law," he said.

"The states have been wonderful on this," said Jim Boulet Jr., executive director of English First, an organization that supports making English the official language. "The problem isn't getting bills passed, it's getting them enforced." Mr. Boulet described Mr. King's bill as "a good first step."

In the last session of Congress, Mr. King drafted similar legislation and counted 160 co-sponsors, placing the bill in the top 2 percent of co-sponsored legislation. Although control of Congress has switched hands, the bill's advocates say the issue has broad, bipartisan support. "We don't necessarily expect them to jump in and say they support this unanimously," said Rob Toonkel, spokesman for U.S. English Inc., a group that supports making English the official language.

The legislation would not bar private businesses or individuals from using multilingual material, but it does seek to prevent federal funds from being spent on such efforts.

Mr. King has long been an advocate of English-language laws. In 2002, as a state senator, Mr. King authored a successful bill making English the official language in Iowa. The bill was signed by then-Gov. Tom Vilsack, who is now a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

Mr. King on Jan. 10 filed a lawsuit in state district court against Gov. Chet Culver and Secretary of State Michael Mauro, both Democrats, for violating Iowa's English-language law. The lawsuit accuses Mr. Culver, who served as secretary of state before running for governor, and Mr. Mauro of illegally placing voter-registration forms and absentee-ballot request forms on Iowa's secretary of state Web site in foreign languages.

Meanwhile, English-language laws have been introduced by state legislators in Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey and Oklahoma. Similar legislation is expected to be introduced in other states before the end of the month. Culpeper County in Virginia and Cabarrus County in North Carolina have introduced their own English-language proposals as well.

Last month, voters in Arizona passed legislation making English the state's official language by a margin of more than 2-to-1. "The people have been well-ahead of the politicians on this one for a long time," Mr. Boulet said.

Although immigration legislation remains stalled in the halls of Capitol Hill, some supporters of making English the official language say that ambiguity has had unforeseen benefits. "[Immigration and Naturalization Service] had a record number of people applying for citizenship last year," Mr. Toonkel said.

The Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services said there was an 18 percent increase in requests for citizenship applications during the first half of last year compared with 2005. Similar surges have followed a tightening of illegal-alien laws passed in states such as Arizona and California. After California passed its Proposition 187 in 1996, a total of 378,014 persons were naturalized. That was more than double the previous year's figure, when 136,727 persons were naturalized.

"This is the strongest push for official English legislation that I have seen in the last 15 years," said U.S. English Chairman Mauro E. Mujica. "I hope the jump-start that this issue has received will pay dividends in the near future by making English the official language and knocking down the linguistic barriers that divide our society."

I totally agree with this. I am sick of the extra government money going to pay to help those who don't want to learn English. This has got to stop.

Support grows to make English official

I know that we have to make it official, but isn't it insulting that we have to vote on something that should be obvious?

Originally Posted by Neese

Support grows to make English official

I know that we have to make it official, but isn't it insulting that we have to vote on something that should be obvious?

Neese, you are correct! But as we know, common sense is a contradiction in terms to our elected officials.

This is a result of pc gone overboard. Should be a no-brainer. English is our language, it unifies a country.

This rates right up there with putting labels on products like:

Don't drink the Draino, it will kill you, and don't put the plastic bag over your head unless you want to suffocate. I sure am glad that they write that the coffee is hot so that I don't get burnt...I am such a numbskull, that I would have third degree burns without the dire warning! Off topic, and just food for thought...why do they have braille on drive up ATMs? That is scary.

Actually I think it's a shame we have to do this... but alas, we do have to.

Jean wrote:

This is a result of pc gone overboard. Should be a no-brainer. English is our language, it unifies a country

I agree Jean, PC is definitely one of the things that is leading to the America's demise and might I add lack of common sense! As you stated this should be a no brainer.

Get ready for the pandering and charges of "discrimination." To me what is really discriminatory is no longer qualifying for a job in your own country because you don't speak one particular foreign language.

This is common sense, but this will not set well with those who have an agenda to make this a bilingual country.

Maybe that is why we have so many illegals in this
country right now...........

They have to be bilingual to get a job down there in Mexico....

And most of them can not or will not speak English.

I should have thought of this before.

That must be why English is the OFFICIAL language in
32 OTHER countries, BUT not here in the USA.