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For Immediate Release Contact: Phil Kent ProEnglish praises Sen. Dole for sponsoringmultilingual mandate repeal
ARLINGTON, Va.—“Sen. Elizabeth Dole deserves praise for her leadership in trying to protect our nation’s historic unity in the English language by introducing a bill that would revoke the multilingual mandate known as Executive Order 13166,” says K.C. McAlpin, executive director of ProEnglish, a group that advocates for official English. President Clinton issued Executive Order 13166 (E.O. 13166) in August 2000. The sweeping order requires federal fund recipients including state and local government agencies to provide translations and interpreters in dozens of foreign languages or risk prosecution for civil rights violations. McAlpin said, “The American people don’t want to ‘press 1 for English’ when they call their own government. And they should not have to pay for interpreters for people who come to this country and expect our government to use their language, instead of learning to speak English,” he added. Sen. Dole’s bill to repeal E.O. 13166 was one of fourteen bills being pushed by ten Republican senators who demanded action at a press conference yesterday on immigration and assimilation related issues that enjoy widespread public support. “It is important to understand that E.O. 13166 is not a law. It is not even a regulation. It is an interpretation of civil rights law based on flawed legal arguments that have been rejected by courts for over thirty years. Yet Department of Justice lawyers continue to implement it,” said McAlpin ProEnglish and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons are challenging the legality of the Department of Health and Human Services implementation of E.O. 13166 in a case currently pending in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. |
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