Transcript
Alan K. Simpson
Former U.S. Senator, Wyoming
Let me just say that when I did the immigration bill in 1982, Senator Hayakawa stepped up and put in an amendment to make English the official language of the United States. I said, "Please, don't do that on this bill. This is not helpful in the administration and in the floor management of this bill." Those warnings went unheeded, the amendment was called up and passed by a vote of 78 to whatever, go look at the role call of vote. Of it, Democrats, Republicans, civil libertarians, remarkable people, were voting for that. You have these things moving in various states. But every one of you who has spoken has used the word "success" and every one of you who has spoken has spoken as the most articulate people in this entire session, so it isn't just education that got you there, it's English that got you there. English is the language of success, I don't care how you put it, you can dance on the head of a pin, you can do all the stuff you want to do, you can talk about bilingual, triple, the whole works. I'm in Liliam's camp, it's the language of success.
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