Speech #1040254184

I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding and before I begin my remarks. let me also join the House in congratulating the gentleman from Penn.ylvania . I am so delighted his long nightmare is over. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the rule and in support of the underlying bill. For the first 180 years of our Nation. immigrants came to our shores knowing that they had to learn the English language to become part of the American mainstream. They maintained their own cultures. their own traditions. their own religion. their own beliefs. their own parades. their own festivals. but they were bound together by the English language. Growing up in New York City in the 1940s and 1950s.