José E. Serrano: “Mr. Chairman, if one wants to know how much people want to learn to speak English, they should come to my district in…”

“Mr. Chairman, if one wants to know how much people want to learn to speak English, they should come to my district in the Bronx, or anywhere else throughout the Nation, and find out what happens when an English-as-a-second-language class is offered. The line of immigrants and of recent arrivals and people who have been here for a while in front of those schools, trying to get into those programs, is something that would be hard to be believed. The biggest problem in that area is that we do not have enough slots to fit all the people who want to learn to speak English. This is a nonissue. This should not be on the floor. But since it is, we should approve my amendment and speak about the future, not some problems we have had in the past.”