Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - October 04, 2005)

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Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, Senator Cornyn and I are introducing legislation to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act. The legislation would be called the Strengthening American Citizenship Act.

Over the next several weeks, this body will be engaged in a debate about immigration reform. It is an essential debate which we must have in order to honor our commitment to the rule of law. I believe that real immigration reform must encompass three important steps.

First, we must secure our borders. Senators Cornyn, Kyl, McCain, and Kennedy have introduced differing legislation with that goal in mind.

Second, we need to create a legal status for foreign workers and foreign students who come here. Cornyn-Kyl and McCain-Kennedy also address the question of workers. Later this month, I intend to introduce legislation to ensure that our immigration system creates an appropriate legal status for and welcomes the more than 550,000 foreign students who study at our universities and who, incidentally, contribute to our high standard of living by doing so.

But there is a third step to any real immigration reform. After we secure our borders, after we create a legal status for foreigners who work here and study here, the third indispensable step is to help prospective citizens become Americans. That is why today I am introducing the Strengthening American Citizenship Act. I am pleased to be joined by Senator Cornyn in this effort.

The Strengthening American Citizenship Act helps legal immigrants who are prospective American citizens to learn our common language, our history, and our way of Government in the following ways: First, providing $500 grants for English courses; next, allowing prospective citizens who become fluent in English, not just basic in English, but fluent in English, to apply for citizenship 1 year early; next, providing for grants to organizations to provide courses in American history and civics; authorizing the creation of a new foundation to assist in those efforts; codifying the oath of allegiance to which new citizens swear when they are naturalized; asking the Department of Homeland Security to carry out a strategy to highlight the moving ceremonies in which immigrants become American citizens; and finally, establishing an award to recognize the contributions of new citizens to our great Nation.

This bill is about fulfilling the promise of our national motto that is written right above you, Mr. President, on the Senate wall: ``E Pluribus Unum,'' one from many. It is in the most visible place in the Senate Chamber. As a nation of immigrants, that motto--from many, one--is very important to us. While our unique history makes us a diverse nation, we are still one American Nation. How do we do that? How do we as Americans take all of the magnificent diversity that is the United States and mold it into a single nation? We can be one nation because we are united by principles expressed in our founding documents, such as liberty, democracy, and the rule of law, and not by our multiple ancestries. We are united by our common language, English, and by our history of constantly struggling to reach the high ideals that we have set for ourselves as a nation.

Part of that American history is welcoming new immigrants to join our Nation. We are unique in the world in our attitude toward welcoming others. America is different because under our Constitution becoming an American can have nothing to do with ancestry. That is because America is an idea, not a race. An American can technically become a citizen of Japan, in rare cases, but would never be considered Japanese.

But if a Japanese person wants to become a citizen of the United States, he or she must become an American.

Recently, I was privileged to witness as 99 immigrants from 46 different countries became Americans. It was on a Constitution Day ceremony. I have attended naturalization ceremonies in Nashville and across my State many times in the past. It is a moving experience that I recommend to all of my colleagues.

This naturalization ceremony a few weeks ago was a special one held at the Jefferson Memorial. The same ceremonies are held in courthouses across the country. I watched those 99 new Americans swear an oath of allegiance to this country. It is a powerful oath where they renounce allegiance to their former country and swear allegiance to ours and to the Constitution. It is the oath we will finally enshrine in law in this bill.

That oath is a part of our history. It dates back to the founding of our Nation almost 230 years ago. Those 99 new Americans who took that oath at the Jefferson Memorial a few weeks ago were basically taking the same oath George Washington gave to his soldiers in revolutionary times.

On May 12, 1778, as brave Americans were fighting for our freedom, George Washington himself, and his general officers, signed a very similar oath as they were camped at Valley Forge. Let me read a part of Washington's oath. This is a copy of the oath Washington took. The Archivist of the United States brought it to me. There is Washington's own signature. We can imagine the circumstances and imagine the times. It was in the early stages of the Revolutionary War. Things were not going very well. These soldiers were camped at Valley Forge and this was the oath Washington himself took and that he gave to his officers and required them to sign.

I, George Washington, Commander in chief of the Armies of the United States of America, do acknowledge the United States of America, to be Free, Independent and Sovereign States, and declare that the people thereof owe no allegiance or obedience to George the Third, King of Great Britain; and I renounce, refuse and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him; and I do swear that I will to the utmost of my power, support, maintain and defend the United States...

That is how George Washington and his officers swore allegiance to our country, and it has set the standard for American citizens from that time forward. Every American should learn about that standard.

Since I was elected to this body in 2002, I have been working to ensure that American children learn American history and civics. With the help of Democratic leader Senator Reid and many other Senators on both sides of the aisle, we passed legislation in December of 2003 to establish residential academies for teachers and congressional academies for students of American history and civics. Some are residential academies to help teachers and outstanding students learn more about these important subjects so they can pass it on to their students and classmates.

This year, I hope to pass a bill with Senator Kennedy to provide for improved testing of American history so we can determine where history is being taught well and where it is being taught poorly so improvements can be made. We also know that when testing is focused on a specific subject, States and school districts are more likely to step up to the challenge and improve performance. So we are beginning to make progress in reaching out to our children so that they understand what this country is all about.

There is another group of Americans we must also reach: New Americans. Last week, there was a report in Florida of a 27-year-old Guatemalan man who posed as an 18-year-old so he could attend public high school and learn English there. So we know immigrants are eager to learn our common language. That is why I, with Senator Cornyn, am introducing this bill to help legal immigrants who are prospective American citizens to learn our common language, our history, and our way of governing.

The Strengthening American Citizenship Act will, No. 1, provide education grants up to $500 for English courses to immigrants who declare intent to become American citizens. They might use these grants to take a class from a local nonprofit organization or a community college. It would also allow citizenship applicants who speak fluent English to meet the residency requirement after 4 years of living in the United States, rather than 5.

Secondly, our legislation would help prospective citizens learn more about the American way of life. It would do it in these two ways: One, establishing a foundation to support the activities of the Office of Citizenship, which is within the Department of Homeland Security, so that organizations that want to support and cooperate in efforts to reach out to prospective citizens can do so.

Second, it would provide for grants to organizations to provide classes in American history and civics. While new citizens are required to demonstrate a knowledge of American history and government in a test, helping them access a history or civics class will allow many to gain a richer understanding of our country and, by doing so, to feel more at home in the United States.

The third major area this legislation covers would be to codify this oath of allegiance which began with George Washington's oath at Valley Forge. The oath today is written only in Federal regulations, not in the law. This would give the oath the same standing as the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem.

Finally, we should celebrate our new citizens. Our legislation would instruct the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and implement a strategy to raise public awareness of naturalization ceremonies. These ceremonies, which happen virtually every day in the United States, embody what it means to become an American. Every U.S. citizen, not just those from foreign countries, ought to see one. It is my hope that more of these ceremonies will be held in prominent locations and televised on C-SPAN.

We also would establish an award for citizens who have been naturalized within the last ten years and have made an outstanding contribution to the American nation. Our new citizens are often our best citizens, and this bill would give the President this responsibility so that we can recognize how new Americans play a critical role in the progress of our country.

We are a nation of immigrants. Almost all of us can trace our ancestry to some part of the globe quite far from here. Over the coming weeks this body will debate how to reform our immigration system. I believe comprehensive reform must include three things: No. 1, securing our borders; No. 2, creating a legal status for foreign workers and foreign students whom we welcome here; and, No. 3, helping prospective citizens become Americans.

The Strengthening American Citizenship Act fulfills that third objective. Comprehensive immigration reform must include efforts to help new Americans become a part of our national family.

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