ProEnglish praises Rep. King’s, Sen. Inhofe’s English Language Unity Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   March 6, 2013

CONTACT:  Phil Kent, philkent@philkent.com or 404-226-3549             ProEnglish Praises Rep. King’s, Sen. Inhofe’s English Language Unity Act

ARLINGTON, VA—ProEnglish, the nation’s leading advocate for official English, praised today’s introduction of the English Language Unity Act (H.R. 997) by U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa that would designate English as the nation’s official language of governmental operations.  The bill also establishes a uniform language requirement for the citizen naturalization process.

“Our national unity is undermined by the dangerous and increasing trend of bilingual and multilingual communications from elected government officials,” says ProEnglish Executive Director Robert Vandervoort. “ProEnglish testified on behalf of H.R. 997 last August before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. This legislation has been thoroughly vetted and the House should therefore hold a mark-up of this bipartisan bill and send it to the floor for an up-or-down vote.”

“2010 Census figures reveal that approximately 59 million people in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home, and the expense to taxpayers of multilingual translations is on the rise at the local, state and federal levels,” Vandervoort said. “Congress must finally emphasize the importance and need for English to be the official language of all government operations. After all, 31 states already have such laws.”

Vandervoort cites a May 2010 Rasmussen poll that 87 percent of likely voters believe English should be the official language of the United States, saying “the high level of support is in line with what voters have been saying for several years. In fact, the poll found over 80 percent of whites, blacks and those of other racial or ethnic backgrounds agree that requiring people to speak English is not a form of racism or bigotry.”

A companion bill to the English Language Unity Act, S. 464, has also been introduced in the Senate by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.