Immigration Bill Now Makes English the National Language

Late last night the U.S. Senate voted 64-33 to adopt an amendment to the comprehensive immigration reform bill that declares English to be the national language of the United States. Called the "S.I. Hayakawa National Language Amendment Act of 2007," after the California legislator who was an outspoken advocate of enshrining English as an official language, the amendment also declares that there is no affirmative right to receive government services in languages other than English, except where required by federal law.

The effect of the amendment is not so severe as forbidding that any government functions be carried out in any language other than English. Instead, a government agency can opt to provide services in other languages under the proposed law, but citizens do not have an affirmative right to ask that they do so. It doesn't override existing federal statutes, which mandate use of other languages in certain situations involving, for example, health care and judicial proceedings. The amendment also calls on federal agencies to “preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America.”

The national language amendment, introduced by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), came too late for most print publications to include it in their coverage of the immigration debate. Also too late for the print editions was passage on a 49-48 vote of an amendment introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-NE) that puts a five-year limit on the new guest worker program. Dorgan's amendment reflects concern that the guest worker program will depress wages for the domestic work force. This change is a serious blow to the chances for passage of the overall bill, since the guest worker program is the part of the grand compromise that brought in big business support for the plan.