Posted on 5/19/2006, 2:40:57 PM by presidio9
Whether English is America's "national language" or its national "common and unifying language" was a question dominating the Senate immigration debate.
The Senate first voted 63-34 to make English the national language after lawmakers who led the effort said it would promote national unity.
But critics argued the move would prevent limited English speakers from getting language assistance required by an executive order enacted under President Clinton. So the Senate also voted 58-39 to make English the nation's "common and unifying language."
"We are trying to make an assimilation statement," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C., one of two dozen senators who voted Thursday for both English proposals.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday that President Bush supports both measures.
"What the president has said all along is that he wants to make sure that people who become American citizens have a command of the English language," Snow said. "It's as simple as that."
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., disputed charges that making English the national language was racist or aimed at Spanish speakers. Eleven Democrats joined Republicans in voting for his measure.
The provision makes exceptions for any language assistance already guaranteed by law, such as bilingual ballots required under the Voting Rights Act or court interpreters. It also requires immigrants seeking citizenship to demonstrate a "sufficient understanding of the English language for usage in every day life."
The Homeland Security Department is in the midst of redesigning the citizenship test and some groups have been concerned about efforts to make the test more difficult.
Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo, offered the alternative. The only Republican to vote solely for Salazar's "common and unifying" language option was Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record) of New Mexico, whose home state's constitution prohibits discrimination on basis of inability to speak, read or write English or Spanish.
Both provisions will be included in an immigration bill the Senate is expected to pass and send to conference with the House, where differences will be resolved.
President Bush, who often peppers his speeches with Spanish words and phrases, had little to say about the Senate votes while visiting the Arizona-Mexico border. "The Senate needs to get the bill out," the president said.
Bush toured an unfortified section of the border in the Arizona desert Thursday, where he endorsed using fences and other barriers to cut down on illegal crossings. The Senate on Wednesday voted to put 370 miles of fences on the border.
Bush's border visit was part of his efforts to win over conservatives balking at his support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and a new guest worker program.
Bush asked Congress for $1.9 billion Thursday to pay for 1,000 Border Patrol agents and the temporary deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard troops to states along the Mexican border.
His request was not warmly welcomed by some key senators.
Sen. Judd Gregg (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, delayed a vote on Bush's promotion of U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record) to White House budget director to show his displeasure. He said Bush's request calls for using money for proposed for border security equipment to pay for operational exercises.
Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record), the Senate Appropriations Committee's top Democrat, complained that he had offered amendments providing for border security nine times since 2002, only to have the Bush administration reject them as extraneous spending or expanding the size of government.
"If we had spent that money beginning in 2002, we would not be calling on the National Guard today," Byrd said.
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers supporting the immigration measure continued to hold through the week. The group was able to reverse an amendment that denied temporary workers the ability to petition on their own for legal permanent residency, a step to citizenship.
Bill supporters restored the self-petitioning with the condition the federal government certifies American workers were unavailable to fill the jobs held or sought by the temporary workers.
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The bill is S. 2611
What was the national language before?
Nothing but posturing. If they really want to do something about this problem, then seal off the border and deport the illegals.
Gawd have mercy. Yeah, Senator, we wouldn't want them demanding their Social Security checks in Spanish.
MNSBC.com is having a informal live vote on this question right now. The results even on this liberal site show strong support for English as the national language.
Technically, we didn't have one. English was just the most common language but nothing was written in law making it the official national language.
MNSBC.com = MSNBC.com
*sigh* It's still morning....
Cherokee
The entire issue is an insult to the American people and our American heritage. My grandfather came to the US from Warsaw, Poland, in the early 1900's. The very first thing he did upon arriving in America was to learn the English language. He knew that to succeed in the United States and to start a business, he had to speak the language. If the airheads in DC think they're impressing the American people, I think they're clueless. All they're doing at this point is angering most of us even more. Proclaiming English as our national language, duh! Where have these jokers been their entire life. Maybe they should start by reading American history.
Whether English is America's "national language" or its national "common and unifying language" was a question dominating the Senate immigration debate.
We already have English as a common and unifying language! At least for now. The only meaningful measure is establishing English as America's national language. As we have in the past we can transition by temporarily continuing current language programs to address the concerns of "critics."
quote from article "The provision makes exceptions for any language assistance already guaranteed by law, such as bilingual ballots required under the Voting Rights Act or court interpreters"
in other words ... all this English is the official language stuff is just posturing for voters to make it look like they are actually doing something.
That is the problem with unfunded mandates. No funding.
They voted for English as the National language before voting against it...
I'm still confused after hearing the news this morning.
At first, I thought a law had actually passed making English the national language. I was elated, but cautious - this seemed too good, and too big, to be true so easily.
Can anyone tell me where we actually stand at the moment? Has the law passed? Do we FINALLY have an official national language?
I'm amazed it isn't the national language of the US!
Here's a clue - the language your constitution was written in is probably your national language! :D
Both bills passed: "National Language" and "Common and Unifying Language". The former could effect legal documents, immigration issues, etc. The latter is mostly window dressing but it does take into account prior laws requiring all government services to provide language assistance to non-English speakers upon request.
They hit two sides of the language issue.
Likely this is a reaction to the illegal alien street demonstrations the past few weeks. All those foreign flags were impressive.
Ah, the Clinton legacy.
Why can't Bush just issue an executive order ordering all of Clinton's executive orders null and void?
Yes, the second one made the first one meaningless.
I heard on the radio that Dingy Harry considered this bill "racist."
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