Wednesday, July 17, 2002
Puerto Rico Vote and Analysis
(The following is taken from my e-mail to our Internet activists earlier tonight. "News and Notes" readers are invited to sign up for this free service.)
On July 16th, the House of Representatives passed the Puerto Rico bill, H.Con.Res. 395, by a vote of 389-32. Three Members voted "present." The vote can be reviewed in its entirety here.
The bill's finding, "Whereas the cultural diversity of the United States has been enriched by the people of Puerto Rico who have preserved and promoted their culture, language, and identity," provoked the opposition of English First.
As a Hispanic immigrant and English First member put it so well in an e-mail to me this past weekend:
So the Congress commends Puerto Rico that it has preserved its language and culture? That is very nice. WE WANT THE SAME HERE! I spoke only Spanish for the first 18 years of my life but I learned English when I came to the U.S. If I had wanted to speak Spanish and keep my culture I would not have come here.
Such strong supporters of official English as Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Virgil Goode (I-VA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) voted "no."
Because the bill commended Puerto Rico's Commonwealth government, ardent statehooders Jose Serrano (D-NY) and Dan Burton (R-IN) also voted "no," as did Luis Gutierrez D-IL), a supporter of full independence for the island.
Much of the Black Caucus voted with Serrano and Gutierrez as a demonstration of the alliance between the Black Caucus and the Hispanic Caucus.
This is the second time that the House Republican leadership has snuck an anti-English bill on the "consent calendar" which is supposed to be reserved for non-controversial items, like naming post offices.
On April 23rd, the House voted 411-5 for H.R. 3839, "Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2002." Voting "no" were Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Ron Paul (R-TX) and Bob Schaffer (R-CO). This "non-controversial"
bill contained this provision, added by Congressman Susan Davis (D-CA):
(d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.-It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary should encourage all States and public and private agencies or organizations that receive assistance under this title to ensure that children and families with limited English proficiency who participate in programs under this title are provided materials and services under such programs in an appropriate language other than English.
The good news is that our opponents feel like they have to go about their anti-English agenda on the sly even for bills with no force of law. In the legislative process, defeat is never final. So it's on to the Senate and let's win there.
|posted by Jim on 12:23 AM|
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