Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, we strongly oppose this modified closed rule for the bill designating English as the official language of the Government of the United States and requiring that most official business be conducted only in English. We believe this is a bad rule for an equally bad piece of legislation. We oppose this legislation in such strong terms for many reasons: It is unnecessary; it is without doubt unconstitutional; it will increase litigation by creating a new private right of legal action in Federal court; it is offensive, insulting and denigrating to millions of Americans; and it is divisive at a time that we need to unite our country and its citizens. Mr. Speaker, we fail to understand the need for this legislation of such dubious value. According to the Census Bureau figures, English is spoken by over 97 percent of the American people. A recent General Accounting Office report tells us that less than .1 percent of all Federal documents are printed in foreign languages; thus, more than 99.9 percent are already printed in English.”