Rep. Stearns Introduces Amendment to Curb Government Multilingualism

Statement by U.S. English, Inc. Chairman Mauro E. Mujica

During consideration of the Fiscal Year 2008 Financial Services Appropriations bill today, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) introduced an amendment to prohibit any funds in the measure to be used for expanding the Internal Revenue Service's "Where's My Refund" webpage into Spanish. While the Internal Revenue Service currently provides instructions to "Where's My Refund" in Spanish on its website, the page to submit requests is entirely in English.

*** The following is a statement from U.S. English, Inc. Chairman of the Board Mauro E. Mujica ***

"I want to thank Rep. Stearns for his efforts in introducing this amendment to recognize that while individuals should be multilingual, our government's role is to promote English learning among Americans.

"While we should be proud of our diversity in the United States, government funds should not be used to separate people along language lines. American taxpayers come from all walks of life and speak hundreds of different languages. As a government entity, the IRS should be promoting English language learning, not cherry-picking specific groups for preferential treatment in their native language.

"In an era when we hear of chronic shortages within our armed forces and government agencies, we should not be spending a single spare dollar on unnecessary government multilingualism. Expanding government websites into other languages does little to help immigrants learn English and instead furthers the notion that we have become an 'English optional' society."