Senate Votes Twice for English Language

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."

Okay, so it's start. If we can get rid of this PC crap about "common and unifying language" I'll be happier.

Some things I do not agree with. I do not believe voting ballots should have to be in any language BUT English. I also do not agree that making the citizenship test more difficult (as long as there is a purpose to the questions) is a bad thing.

As far as putting 6K NG troops on the border temporarly, well, I've said my peace on that and I think it is a bad idea. Adding CONUS deployments to OCONUS deployments is going to be very harsh on the pocketbooks and lives of these guys.

They're going to add 3K (an extra 1K added to the already approved 2K) more border patrol agents and put up some more fences, which is good.

The bill also states that any illegal immigrant that has been in the US for five years can apply for citizenship. Those that have been in the US for two to five years can apply and wait for approval. Anyone less than 2 years would be send back home.

As for the criminal element, Those convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors would be deported no matter how long they have been in the country.

1.5 million farm workers can stay legally, and they'll start giving out 200K temporary work visas a year.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/wm1076.cfm

The above link has some good information.

Nice find PJ... reading... reading...

Totally agreed...

As a legal immigrant that speaks spanish. I say about damn time they make English the Offical National Language.

THis is the United States of America, not Mexico or Cuba. You move to the USA and learn it's ways. No the other way around.

It should have been done years ago!

Nice find, PJ

Originally Posted by 5.56X45mm

As a legal immigrant that speaks spanish. I say about damn time they make English the Offical National Language.

THis is the United States of America, not Mexico or Cuba. You move to the USA and learn it's ways. No the other way around.

I couldn't agree with you more ... part of what has made immigration such a great contribution to this country has been the 'assimilation' of the immigrants. You can NOT accomplish this if you don't learn the language of the country ... in this case, English is the language of the United States ... NOT ... Spanish.

As far as the rest of the bill, I am still a little unsure how I feel about the proposals ... I still don't like rewarding criminals for breaking our laws (illegal entry into our country). I also realize that we would open a can of worms IF our policy at this time, was to send ALL illegal aliens home. Many of these people have children that were born in this country and that policy could very well split families.

NOBODY SAID IT WAS GOING TO BE EASY........

Now make that mean something for immigrants. I live in a mostly Armenian community that is roughly middle class and if they can people speak Armenian to one another. It's the familiarity of the language which makes people speak their native tongues, not selfishness or cultural conflicts. You know what would work instead of this political move that tries to garner support during the immigration problem? English classes for free or a small fee that immigrants can attend and understand the language better, that's a lot better than just saying english is the official language and doing nothing about it, which i bet is exactly what they'll do.

Originally Posted by WarMachine

Now make that mean something for immigrants. I live in a mostly Armenian community that is roughly middle class and if they can people speak Armenian to one another. It's the familiarity of the language which makes people speak their native tongues, not selfishness or cultural conflicts. You know what would work instead of this political move that tries to garner support during the immigration problem? English classes for free or a small fee that immigrants can attend and understand the language better, that's a lot better than just saying english is the official language and doing nothing about it, which i bet is exactly what they'll do.

So, you didn't really read what was in the articles, huh? This was addressed.

Free English classes are already being offered to legal immigrants and have been for years.

Originally Posted by Chief Bones

I couldn't agree with you more ... part of what has made immigration such a great contribution to this country has been the 'assimilation' of the immigrants. You can NOT accomplish this if you don't learn the language of the country ... in this case, English is the language of the United States ... NOT ... Spanish.

Right, Chief! English is the language, not French, Spanish, or anything else. period. End of story. Done. Nuff said.

Its all part of this trend of "dumbing" things down... lowering the standards for the bell ends rather than educating them up. Its obvious which one is easier to do but it most certainly does not make it right. This legislation is a step in the right direction but in my opinion is only dealing with a symptom and not the disease. Remove the PC language like PJ said and its even closer to hitting the mark. Our country was not made strong and successful by pandering to the weak and feeble-minded but it most certainly will fall from grace by continuing down this path. Hopefully this bill might embolden a few of our public servants to shore up some other areas, namely education, where they have been taking rungs off the ladder to make the lazy and the dumb feel better about themselves.