It is a practical requirement. because English is our language of political discourse and has been for 300 years. And English is a legal requirement. Naturalized citizens are required by Federal law to demonstrate the ability to "read. write and speak the ordinary usage of the English language." That is as it should be. If there are people in America who do not understand Englishpeople who do not know what It means to say "all men are created equal--people who have never heard of "due process of law"-people to whom "government of the people. by the people and for the people" means nothing at allpeople who cannot read the promise of the Statue of Liberty: "I lift my lamp beside the golden door." such people should not be voting. Listening to the proponents of this bill. I wonder if there is widespread circumvention of our immigration law? In fact. I do not believe that is the case. I believe our citizens understand English. In fact. I suspect our naturalized citizens have a better understanding of English than this Congress. facing a $400 billion deficit. understands compound interest. And facing that $400 billion deficit. there is no need for this Government to spend $1 millionnor for the States to spend $10 millionto encourage voting among people who do not understand the word "vote." Certainly. large numbers of Americans came here recently. That has been true through most of our history.
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immigration naturalized Naturalized