Political Quotes

“I rise today, amazed by how far some will go to unravel our country. H.R. 123 should be called the Linguistic and Voting Deprivation Act, not the English Language Empowerment Act. Instead of providing language minorities with the opportunities to learn English, this legislation will cost our Nation one of our most valuable resources--our diversity. I urge all of you to support English Plus. Earlier in the year this House took opportunities away from our limited-English children by cutting funding for bilingual education. Today with the passage of this legislation, we are making the chance for a better life nearly impossible. As a Representative with one of the highest immigrant and language minority populations in the country, I know the difficulties that language minorities face day in and day out. H.R. 123 will have the effect of further isolating my constituents who speak primarily Chinese or Spanish. To make matters worse, without bilingual ballots, these constituents will be completely unempowered. As elected officials, our job is to make democracy work by reaching out and serving all our constituents--not just those who speak English only. Language minorities are some of our society's most vulnerable members. They are especially in need of assurance that their civil liberties will be protected. My colleagues, H.R. 123 will not bring us together, it will only serve to divide this country. Vote ``yes'' for English Plus.”