The English language is the great unifying force of the United States. Our first settlers were English, but they were followed by a hundred or more other nationalities. In the U.S. Senate, there are such names as Abdnor, Boschwitz, DeConcini, Durenberger, Laxalt, Matsunaga, Metzenbaum., Sarbanes, Tsongas and Zorinsky. In the House of Representatives, there are Addabbo, Akaka, Biaggi, Daschle, de la Garza, Gonzalez, Kogovsek, Lagomarsino, Matsui, Mikulski, Vander Jagt, and Zablocki. We are all immigrants, or the children or grandchildren of immigrants. Whatever language our families started out with, we all learned English and became part of the mainstream of American life

We Are Not Being Candid

We are less than honest with linguistic minority groups if we tell them that they can take full part in American life without learning English. Yet, that is what we are telling them.

According to law, a person must be able to read, write and speak English in ordinary usage" to become a citizen. Nevertheless, the law now requires a so-called "bilingual" ballot for those who do not read English. The bilingual ballot law simply negates our naturalization laws.

There is also "bilingual education," which is essentially monolingual education in the immigrant child's language. Since children are at the absolute height of their languagelearning powers from the ages of two to twelve, (powers which rapidly decline thereafter), any time spent during those years in instruction in the immigrant language is time lost from learning English.

Fortunately, the Department of Education under the current administration approves the use of the immigrant language in public schools only to facilitate the teaching of English. However, pressure groups continue to try to expand the use of immigrant languages in public education. As a result we are sending conflicting signals to the non

English-speaking people among us. Do they need to lear English or don't they?

English In A Strong, Unified America

Our unique success as a "melting pot" could not have happened if we had not, quite informally, agreed on a com mon language. Each of us is strengthened by the contribu-2 tions made to our civilization by people of other cultures. other backgrounds.

To assure that we do not lose this great strength, I have introduced a Constitutional Amendment which declares The English language shall be the official language of the United States." As of now, my Amendment has twelve cosponsors. Since I am leaving the Senate at the end of this year, the Amendment will be re-introduced and advanced in the Senate by my cosponsors; I shall actively work for the Amendment as a private citizen.

Af passed, this Amendment will stop the use of the socaffed bilingual ballot. It will allow instruction in English in non-English languages to accelerate the learning of English, but do away with the use of foreign languages in subject-mafter instruction. It will establish English as the official language of Federal, State and local government business.

There are several things the Constitutional Amendment will not do. It does not discourage the use of Greek, Lah Hebrew, Sanskrit, Arabic or any other language for religious or ceremonial occasions. It does not discourage the use of foreign languages for domestic or community use or for the preservation of cherished ancestral cultures. It does not affect the teaching of foreign languages to American students. Indeed, I believe American students should study more foreign languages, not fewer,

Finally, I would like your views on this subject. Enclos ed you will find a short questionnaire. Please complete your Questionnaire and return it to me. Mark the answer which most closely represents your views, fold with return address showing outward and mail. I shall be most grateful.

WASHINGTON BRIEFS

NALEO Wins I.N.S. Relief

Congress has acted to remedy the backlog of 200,000 citizenship applications facing the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). This spring NALEO gave the House and Senate evidence that insufficient staff funding has created lengthy delays in processing citizenship applications.

The House and Senate responded by recommending that INS be given a budget that is six million dollars more than the Administration had requested for 1985. (See the chart below.) With $2.8 million of this increase, INS plans to hire 76 new service staff to handle citizenship and immigration requests.

This move to raise service funding is a break from the past, revealing a new recognition by both parties of an applicant's right to swift processing. As part of NALEO's Citizenship Initiative, we will continue to see that effective adjudication and naturalization procedures become an established priority.

Minority Grants Saved

For the second year in a row, the House of Representatives and the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to enhance graduate and professional training fellowships for minorities and women (GPOP).

Both chambers overrode the Administration's proposal to eliminate GPOP funding and, instead, approved a NALEOsupported increase for the fellowships.

Overall, the House slated $12,000,000 to GPOP for FY 1985. The Senate Committee's slightly lower budget of $11,500,000 still needs full Senate approval before both budgets are reconciled in House-Senate conference.

Since the differences in the two proposals are small, prospects are good that in 1985, GPOP will fund 1,450 minority fellowships, half of which will be in engineering and physical and life sciences.

Bilingual ED — A Winner

The House of Representatives approved funding for bilingual and vocational education at $143.656,000 for FY 1985, an increase of $4.5 million over the administration's request. Of this, the House gave an $8 million increase to basic grants, which, if passed in the final bill, will mean that 30,000 more children can attend bilingual education classes in 1985.

While the bulk of the appropriations would go directly to school districts for Title VII programs, the House budget also calls for four research studies. It asks the Office of Bilingual Education to (1) learn effective ways of identifying students who can benefit from Title VII programs, (2) assess when students have developed sufficient English to gain from all-English instruction. (3) evaluate all Title VII training programs, and (4) find the deficiencies in how Title V is presently evaluated. continued on page 4.

Freedom of Language

The U.S. will lose "common resolve and common destiny," if English is not protected from rival languages, said the director of the organization U.S. English at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hear ing this June. Under review was a Consti tutional amendment which would make English "the official language of the U.S.

Senator Walter Huddleston (D-KY) introduced the amendment last fall. The main force behind it has been U.S. English, whose purported 40,000 members claim that cultural and linguistic diversity has weakened our nation's cohesiveness. Baltasar Corrada, Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico and NALEO's Secretary/Treasurer, assailed this rhetoric at the hearing. "It is as insidious to base the strength or unity of the U.S. in one language as... in one race," said Corrada,

Corrada explained that establishing one national language would violate freedom of speech, as well as threaten federal programs "crafted to help bring immigrants and migrants into the mainstream."

'Of special concern are bilingual educa tion programs and the Voting Rights Act. Their constitutionality could be challenged `by the passage of this amendment.

The English language has integrated generations of immigrant languages, and will continue to do so. What is endangered. however, is our nation's ability to open the democratic process to all of its citizens.

In Texas, 83 percent of all adults who speak Spanish in their homes are U.S. citizens. Likewise, 76 percent of Spanishspeaking persons in New York, and 56 percent in California, are U.S. citizens.

Bilingual education programs help these Americans learn English and acquire new job skills. The Voting Rights Act enables them to vote in their language.

For this year. Huddleston's amend ment has been laid to rest, but his office promises to push for it again in the next Senate session. We can be sure that U.S. English will push for it, too. As developments occur, NALEO will keep you informed.

This table compares the administration's budget to the final budget, as well as allocations for enforcement to those for service activities.

•Miscellaneous activities are omitted above. They bring the INS FY '85 budget to $576.4 million. Of this amount, $44.2 million will go to adjudication and naturalization.

A DISTURBING DEVELOPMENT Actions in California reveal the vulnerability of the Voting Rights Act in this era of fiscal belt-tightening. In November, Californians will vote on Proposition 38, which would require their governor to press the President for an amendment to eliminate all bilingual ballots and voting materials.

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NALEO NATIONAL REPORT-3