English as official language Photo: Red Alert politics

Three Ga. U.S. House members co-sponsor official English bill

D.A.King

There are still a large number of Americans who are not aware that the United States has no official language. We don’t.

That can be changed– and logic says it should be an easy task with a Republican-controlled Congress and White House. We’ll see.

Introduced by U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, HR 997, the English Unity Act of 2017 establishes English as the official language of the United States. It requires that naturalization ceremonies and official functions of the U.S. government, subject to exceptions, to be conducted in English. And the bill declares that all citizens should be able to read and understand generally the English language text of U.S. laws.

The official English bill currently has 43 House co-sponsors, but only three from Georgia: Reps. Barry Loudermilk, Jody Hice and Doug Collins. (Sen. Johnny Isakson is a co-sponsor of companion legislation S. 678 in the Senate.)

One can’t help but wonder what reasons any lawmaker would have for not supporting English as our official language. More than 50 other countries make English their own official language. Also, an August 2014 Rasmussen poll found that 83% of Americans support making English the official language of the United States.

Here is the contact info for the Georgia delegation. In fact, InsiderAdvantage encourages readers of this column to provide feedback after checking with their own congressman and letting us hear the reasoning behind not signing on to help passage of this official English bill.

Also, a warning: Critics of the concept of a nationally unifying language – and there are many – will try to redefine official English as “English only” which is an intentional falsehood and misrepresentation of the legislation. These radical anti-English activists regard official English as “anti-immigrant.”

The goal of King’s legislation is to have a federal government that operates in English whenever possible, with clear exceptions to aid non-English speakers when necessary.

Georgians who want more information on official English, the many negatives of bi-lingual education and tips on how to take action on convincing their congressman to help should see the website of the highly respected ProEnglish group in Washington, D.C.

There is also an interesting comparison of priorities and interests on the part of House lawmakers. More than 200 representatives have quietly signed on to an immigration amnesty bill that sees nearly zero exposure in the media.

“Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., introduced the ENLIST Act, H.R. 60, that would give illegal aliens who meet certain requirements Legal Permanent Residence (LPR) status if they join the U.S. military. Denham first introduced the ENLIST Act in 2013” says NumbersUSA on its website.

Check out the co-sponsors. Two of the co-signers on this amnesty bill are Georgia congressmen.

The writer is president of the Dustin Inman Society. thedustininmansociety.org