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Discussion: H.R. 997, The English Language Unity Act of 2007 (19 comments ↓)
- This item is from the 110th Congress (2007-2008) and is no longer current. Comments, voting, and wiki editing have been disabled, and the cost/savings estimate has been frozen.
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Visitor Comments 
R. Weidman
March 9, 2007, 7:02pm (report abuse)We need to get HR 997 Passed ASAP.
Only congress could play football with gettin English as our national language year after year.
NYC Officer
August 20, 2007, 9:36am (report abuse)HR 997 is long overdue. The United States are no longer united. Our country as we know will soon cease to exist. The only reason there is even a need for this bill is the millions of illegal (and legal) immigrants who no longer want to learn english.
Business Owner
August 20, 2007, 10:51am (report abuse)Why should I have to press one for English? This whole English language thing is ridiculous. This is the USA, we speak English, if you don't like that, leave.
US Soldier
September 20, 2007, 8:17pm (report abuse)What's the big deal? Are we that afraid of non-english speakers? I know for a fact that my ancestors did NOT speak english when they arrived in this country hundreds of years ago. This is absurd and only feeds an elitist mentality.
Should it be American English then? Should we chastise people for not speaking it, or writing it correctly? Or is that next? Most of our own citizens wouldn't even be able to pass that test!
Engineer
October 5, 2007, 10:04pm (report abuse)English is the common language of this country. People are free to speak what ever they want, but official business and commerce are to be conducted in English.
Naturalized Citizen
October 10, 2007, 5:30pm (report abuse)English was not my native language. My parents knew that I would have to know and use English in order to succeed in life. When I became a US citizen in 1982, I had to take a literacy test. I do not know if they are still required.
I am all for people being able to speak in any language that they choose, but when dealing with the government at any level, there should only be English. Drivers tests and voting should be only in English too. You would not expect Mexico to provide multiple languages - why should we?
American Teenager
November 5, 2007, 9:00pm (report abuse)English should be the national language. Like Canada, we are a former English colony and should continue to use our historic language. The founding fathers didn't write the Constitution in multiple languages. We are ment to speak English and any newcomers should understand and respect that.
P. Officer Sanchez, USN
November 6, 2007, 7:08pm (report abuse)When examining this law, don't take the reason why this law was proposed out of the coversation. This is an attempt by those congressman and senators to continue bringing fear and division into politics. The United States didn't have a declared official language since its creation. People that don't know English will continue learning English with or without this law, the only difference is that people will use the passage of this law as an excuse to treat them like dogs regarless of their positive contribution to the USA.
just a thought
November 12, 2007, 2:03pm (report abuse)I have just one question. What will the government do with citizens who are unable to speak or pass and English Language proficiency test, not because they didn't learn English, but because they had a stroke (CVA) or another disease process? Will their citizenship also be revoked? Make no mistake, HR 997 is not the way intelligent US citizens should vote. It only makes an acceptace of "limited language knowledge" officially valid. Our children need to know how to work with people from all over the world, whether they speak English or not.
LK from KS
Star
November 28, 2007, 1:46am (report abuse)Way past time for it.Just because English would the the official language doesn't mean there wouldn't be other languages spoken.
RL Close
December 6, 2007, 12:32pm (report abuse)What a morning: called for technical help and could not understand any of the 3 cust.service reps who "spoke English". Called to arrange shipping of a pallet of goods required three separate "push one for English" on the way to a cust.service rep who couldn't. I stopped for groceries and the signs were in Spanish, secondly in English. This would be an unusual day except that it is now the norm. An English-speaking American has to waste hours every week to accomodate a growing population of mostly illegal immigrants who are just too lazy to integrate themselves into an English-speaking society. If we don't do something to encourage unified communication we will soon be as divided a nation as Europe was. I just looked again at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and it was amazing to see that it was only written in English. They must have been politically incorrect when they set off on the path to form a more perfect union.
Joan Vincent
December 7, 2007, 10:45pm (report abuse)English is the official language of the United States. However, we must make it official on paper since illegal immigrants, as well as other groups of people who wish to weaken the unity of this country for their own reasons, continue to use the fact that no document exists as a way of attempting to label the majority of Americans as racist and unreasonable. We need to get HR997 passed and put it behind us.
The dumbing down of America
January 22, 2008, 3:54pm (report abuse)No to this ridiculous farce. I guess most of us have forgotten what happened to our real Native languages. Some 600 languages were literally beaten out of our Native people during the 20th century in boarding and reservation schools. Most of those languages don't even exist any more, and have no fluent speakers. The U.S. will be the big loser if this passes--study after study has shown that bi- and tri-lingual people have higher IQs.
Striker
April 1, 2008, 2:27pm (report abuse)I think it all horse tihs also. these foriegners come into our country we're not going into theirs. also Is anyone going to say anything about all the senators that voted against the bill? two of which are our Democratic Presidential Wannabe's.
English education is really what we need
April 9, 2008, 12:12am (report abuse)English is already generally accepted as the official language of America. Enacting a law that reinforces that fact sends many negative messages, and simply making it official doesn't necessarily ensure that more immigrants will learn English. What we really need is a better system for teaching English instead of legislation that only contains ideologies.
Get a Clue!!!
August 10, 2008, 11:02pm (report abuse)Before you pass judgement on this bill, read it and UNDERSTAND it. No where does it say that you will NOY be able to speak a different language at home or in public. People will still be ENCOURAGED to learn multiple languages. The change IS that the US will no longer be REQUIRED to provide documents, signs, translators and so on in any other language than English. So, if you break the law and get arrested, you had better know English because that is the only language that youR rights will be read in. If you need to go down to the DMV and get your license, you better know English becuase that is the ony language any document will be posted in. If you are driving and are looking for the bus station, you better know English because the sign to it will be only in English. No longer will the argument of "I don't speak English, so I do not understand" be valid.
All are welcome to this country to become Americans if they so choose, but part of being an American is speaking the language.
California Red
September 2, 2008, 7:08pm (report abuse)The Government shoudl not provide services in a multitude of different languages. It takes away part of the incentive to learn english. We need a common language so that Americans can have a common culture.
Otherwise, we are divided.
Pura Americana
September 3, 2008, 1:48pm (report abuse)Judging based on the comments here, the majority of Americans already speak one language: hatred, racism, and intolerance. Your precious tax dollars are doing nothing more than to disenfranchise and disunite an already fractured country. If you want to promote UNITY (ironic title of the bill) then you must teach the language of tolerance, respect, and acceptance. Ignorance truly seems to be a blessed state. This bill serves to do nothing more than to manipulate Americans into keeping their eye on the magician's left hand, while the right hand pulls the switch. There are REAL issues out there, like school funding and campaign finance reform that deserve taxpayer's dollars and attention so much more than this hate-inspiring bill. Just look at some of the bigoted and ignorant rhetoric it has sparked on this thread for proof of what it creates. You should write your congressional reps and demand they stop wasting time and start enacting bills that strengthen, rather than weaken.
I vote for Unity in Country and Language
September 16, 2008, 3:14pm (report abuse)Let's do teach tolerance, justice and appreciation of diversity - but let's do it in English. We taxpayers are paying for forms/tests/booklets to be printed in other languages and translators at numerous facilities - how many different languages should we accommodate - where does it end? Yes, there are lots more real issues that need to be solved and just maybe if everyone knew English our country could deal with them better. The bigger waste of time and money is all the posturing that goes on in Washington, with ridiculous trivial items referred to subcommittees - like resolutions to "recognize the importance of Western Civilization", "recognize the success of the Spoleto Festival in SC', "that Lionel Hampton should be honored for his contributions to American music", commendations for football teams, etc. etc. The list is out of control. I think our Congress has turned into a version of People Magazine.
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