Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 123. the English Language Empowerment Act of 1996. This bill declares English to be the official language of the Government of the United States. It will require the Federal Government to conduct its official business in English including all citizenship naturalization ceremonies. The American people. including new citizens. have long championed the notion of making English our official language. To date. 22 Statesincluding my home State of Louisianahave already declared English their official language. It Is time to make English the Nations official language. The bill also amends the Voting Rights Act to end Federal mandates for bilingual ballots.
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naturalization