Rep. Virginia Foxx introduces the Multilingual Services Accounting Act

U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) introduced H.R. 7092, the Multilingual Services Accounting Act, to account for multilingual services provided by the federal government.  This bill would require the federal government to account for how much the taxpayers are paying for multilingual services.  H.R. 7092 requires government agencies to disclose their expenditures on multilingual services in their annual accountability reports each year.  The bill was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Nashville City Councilman submits petitions for special election on English

Today Nashville Metro Councilman Eric Crafton submitted more than 5,000 signed petitions to the city clerk’s office calling for a special election on making English the official language of Nashville.

The number was more than twice the 2,500 signatures of registered voters needed to qualify a charter amendment for a January special-election ballot.  In August Crafton turned in more than 12,400 signatures in an effort to qualify a similar referendum for the November election. But the Nashville Elections Commission ruled the petition was three days short of meeting the requirement that referendums can be submitted only “once every two years” in the Nashville charter.

A low voter turnout in a recent general election reduced the number of signatures Crafton needed to qualify the new petition. Like most other local official English laws, Crafton’s charter amendment makes English the official language of Nashville but has exceptions for complying with state and federal law and to protect public health and safety.

ProEnglish gives Rep. Steve King (IA) American Unity Award

“We are very pleased to award the Theodore Roosevelt American Unity award for the 110^th Congress to Representative Steve King of Iowa,” ProEnglish Executive Director K.C. McAlpin announced today at a brief presentation ceremony on Capitol Hill.

The award is given biennially to recognize the legislator in every Congress whose leadership in working to preserve and protect the nation’s linguistic unity in the English language best exemplifies U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt’s commitment to American national unity. The recipient is chosen by ProEnglish’s national board of directors.

King’s signature bill, H.R. 997, “The English Language Unity Act,” has attracted the bipartisan support of 152 members of the House of Representatives, more than one third of the entire House. Despite this enormous level of support and polls that consistently show an overwhelming majority of 83 to 87 percent of the American people – including solid majorities of minority voters – want to make English our official English, the House leadership has refused to take up his bill,” McAlpin said.

House passes bill to stop Mexican Truck Program

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6630, a bill that would end a pilot program that allows Mexican trucks to operate within the U.S. under the authority of the U.S. Department of Transportation.  The bill also prohibits the government from granting Mexican trucks access beyond the commercial zones along the southwest border without the express authorization of Congress.  The U.S. Department of Transportation launched the program in 2007 and since then has allowed access to 100 Mexican trucking companies beyond a designated zone of border cities and municipalities.  H.R. 6630 would put a stop to this program.  The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.