Received: from mail04.mail.aol.com (mail04.mail.aol.com [152.163.172.53]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.6.8/940311.01ccg) with ESMTP id UAA20683 for <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>; Tue, 5 Dec 1995 20:40:47 -0500 From: MMBelanger@aol.com Received: by mail04.mail.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) id UAA23578 for nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov; Tue, 5 Dec 1995 20:42:29 -0500 Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 20:42:29 -0500 Message-ID: <951205204228_65035838@mail04.mail.aol.com> To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Subject: English Only Hearings in Senate Status: RO X-Status: I am re-posting the following, which originally appeared on another list: ORIGINAL MESSAGE: I attach information from Joint National Committe on Languages about the Senate hearings on the Emerson-Shelby bill. I understand from people at MALDEF's DC office that it's been decided that the testimony at Wednesday hearing will be devoted entirely to supporters of the legislation, with another hearing to be scheduled for some time in January at which opponents will be heard. Geoff Nunberg >Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 08:04:46 -0800 >From: JNCL-NCLIS <76306.535@compuserve.com> >Subject: English-Only Hearings > >On Wednesday, December 6 the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs will hold >a hearing to review S356, "Language of Government Act of 1995" which declares >English the official language of the United States. This is the first hearing >of the 104th Congress beign held to discuss an actual bill in the English-Only >debate. > >S356, written by Richard Shelby (R AL), is the Senate version of H.R. 123 >written by Bill Emerson (R 8th-MO). As with H.R. 123, the ostensible purposes >of this bill seem to be to repeal certain laws (i.e. bilingual ed., bilingual >ballots, etc.), and to authorize aggrieved citizens to sue the Government for >damages should one of its employees violate this law. The language in this bill >is particularly frightening, as it includes such "hot button" phrases as: (a >concern) "to prevent division along linguistic lines", and (the Government has) >"an affirmarive obligation to preserve and enhance" (the role of English). >Further, this bill states "the purpose of this Act is to help immigrants better >assimilate" while is simultaneously works to undercut those services which have >so successfully aided in immigrant assimilation. > >The Members of that Committee are as follows: > >Majority (Republican) Members > >Ted Stevens, Chairman (Alaska) (202) 224-3004 >William Roth (Del) (202) 224-2441 >William Cohen (Maine) (202) 224-2523 >Fred Thompson (Tenn) (202) 224-4944 >Thad Cochran (Miss) (202) 224-5054 >Charles Grassley (Iowa) (202) 224-3744 >John McCain (Ariz) (202) 224-2235 >Robert Smith (NH) (202) 224-2841 > >Minority (Democrat) Members > >John Glenn, Ranking Minority Member (Ohio) (202) 224-3353 >Sam Nunn (GA) (202) 224-3521 >Carl Levin (Mich) (202) 224-6221 >David Pryor (Ark) (202) 224-2353 >Joseph Lieberman (Conn) (202) 224-4041 >Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) (202) 224-6361 >Byron Dorgan (ND) (202) 224-2551 > >If any of these Senators represent your state or membership, please take a >moment to telephone their office and voice your concern over this issue. >Before >calling, you may wish to review the English-Only Talking Points and the letter >from the Linguistic Society of America enclosed in the October 24, 1995 >JNCL-NCLIS mailing. If none of the aforementioned Senators represent your >state, please forward this information to any collegues you may have in thos >states. > >In the House, opponents of English-Only legislation have been successful in >their fight in part because of their large and vocal turnout. This is our >opportunity to do the same in the Senate. > >Thanks for your help. > >Laura Owen >JNCL-NCLIS > Maurice Belanger mmbelanger@aol.com
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