Thirty Three U.S. Senators Voted Against Making English the Official Language of the United States- Fiction!

Thirty Three U.S. Senators Voted Against Making English the Official Language of the United States- Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:

The forwarded email is in the form of a letter from “Colonel Harry Riley USA ret” criticizing 33 Senators for voting against making English the official language of the U.S.
 

The Truth:

The Comprehensive Immigration and Reform Act of 2007 (S1348) was introduced to the Senate by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada on May 9, 2007 but the bill never made it past the legislative process. The bill contained 351 proposed amendments.  One of these amendments, S.Amdt. 1151 by Sen. Inhofe [R-OK],  would have declared English as the official language of the United States Government, not the nation. The amendment was proposed on May 22, 2007,  accepted: Jun 6, 2007 and on the same day Amendment SA 1151 was agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 64 – 33. 

It its final form, the S.1348 bill was never voted on by the Senate so it isn’t accurate to say that the “no” votes of the Senators was about making English the official language of the United States.  Their opposition could have been to other aspects of the legislation.

The quotation at the end of the forwarded emaill was not by Abraham Lincoln.  According to a February 16, 2007  news story in the Washington Post the quotation was taken from a article written by J. Michael Waller in the December 2003 edition of  Insight magazine.

Updated 08/11/10