Official Language of the United States

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES -- (Senate - June 22, 2006)

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have the attached letter printed in the RECORD in support of my amendment No. 4064, to S. 261l.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1812,

Washington, DC, May 24, 2006.
Hon. JAMES M. INHOFE,
Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC.

DEAR SENATOR INHOFE: As President of AFGE Local 1812, which represents employees at the Voice of America, I want to thank you for your support of making the English language the official language of the United States. Along with 86 percent of the general public, I agree with you on this issue. In this regard, I would also like to bring to your attention another issue that deals with the English language: as a result of the President's 2007 budget request process, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) plans to eliminate the Voice of America's global English radio broadcasts, VOA News Now.

Since you realize the importance of the English language to this country, I believe you will agree that it is critically important that we communicate with the rest of the world in our de facto national language, in particular because English is the language of business, higher education, youth, international diplomacy, aviation, the Internet, science, popular music, entertainment, and international travel. Other countries realize the importance of broadcasting in English. In fact, China, Russia, and France had all recently increased their international broadcasts in English.

I have attached an article by Georgie Anne Geyer regarding the proposed elimination of the VOA's global English broadcasts. I am hoping you can help stop this decision, which will negatively impact U.S. public diplomacy and America's position in the world.

Sincerely,

Tim Shamble,
President.

http://thomas.loc.gov/