I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 997 

To declare English as the official language of the United States, to establish 

a uniform English language rule for naturalization, and to avoid misconstructions of the English language texts of the laws of the United 

States, pursuant to Congress’ powers to provide for the general welfare 

of the United States and to establish a uniform rule of naturalization 

under article I, section 8, of the Constitution. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2017 

Mr. KING of Iowa (for himself, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. 

BARLETTA, Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina, and Mr. FRANKS of Arizona) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the 

Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To declare English as the official language of the United 

States, to establish a uniform English language rule for 

naturalization, and to avoid misconstructions of the 

English language texts of the laws of the United States, 

pursuant to Congress’ powers to provide for the general 

welfare of the United States and to establish a uniform 

rule of naturalization under article I, section 8, of the 

Constitution. 

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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘English Language 

5 Unity Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds and declares the following: 

8 (1) The United States is comprised of individ9 uals from diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic 

10 backgrounds, and continues to benefit from this rich 

11 diversity. 

12 (2) Throughout the history of the United 

13 States, the common thread binding individuals of 

14 differing backgrounds has been the English lan15 guage. 

16 (3) Among the powers reserved to the States 

17 respectively is the power to establish the English 

18 language as the official language of the respective 

19 States, and otherwise to promote the English lan20 guage within the respective States, subject to the 

21 prohibitions enumerated in the Constitution of the 

22 United States and in laws of the respective States. 

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1 SEC. 3. ENGLISH AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED 

2 STATES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title 4, United States Code, is 

4 amended by adding at the end the following new chapter: 

5 ‘‘CHAPTER 6—OFFICIAL LANGUAGE 

6 ‘‘§ 161. Official language of the United States 

7 ‘‘The official language of the United States is 

8 English. 

9 ‘‘§ 162. Preserving and enhancing the role of the offi10 cial language 

11 ‘‘Representatives of the Federal Government shall 

12 have an affirmative obligation to preserve and enhance the 

13 role of English as the official language of the Federal Gov14 ernment. Such obligation shall include encouraging great15 er opportunities for individuals to learn the English lan16 guage. 

17 ‘‘§ 163. Official functions of Government to be con18 ducted in English 

19 ‘‘(a) OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS.—The official functions 

20 of the Government of the United States shall be conducted 

21 in English. 

22 ‘‘(b) SCOPE.—For the purposes of this section, the 

23 term ‘United States’ means the several States and the 

24 District of Columbia, and the term ‘official’ refers to any 

25 function that (i) binds the Government, (ii) is required 

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1 by law, or (iii) is otherwise subject to scrutiny by either 

2 the press or the public. 

3 ‘‘(c) PRACTICAL EFFECT.—This section shall apply 

4 to all laws, public proceedings, regulations, publications, 

5 orders, actions, programs, and policies, but does not apply 

6 to— 

7 ‘‘(1) teaching of languages; 

8 ‘‘(2) requirements under the Individuals with 

9 Disabilities Education Act; 

10 ‘‘(3) actions, documents, or policies necessary 

11 for national security, international relations, trade, 

12 tourism, or commerce; 

13 ‘‘(4) actions or documents that protect the pub14 lic health and safety; 

15 ‘‘(5) actions or documents that facilitate the ac16 tivities of the Bureau of the Census in compiling any 

17 census of population; 

18 ‘‘(6) actions that protect the rights of victims of 

19 crimes or criminal defendants; or 

20 ‘‘(7) using terms of art or phrases from lan21 guages other than English. 

22 ‘‘§ 164. Uniform English language rule for naturaliza23 tion 

24 ‘‘(a) UNIFORM LANGUAGE TESTING STANDARD.—All 

25 citizens should be able to read and understand generally 

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1 the English language text of the Declaration of Independ2 ence, the Constitution, and the laws of the United States 

3 made in pursuance of the Constitution. 

4 ‘‘(b) CEREMONIES.—All naturalization ceremonies 

5 shall be conducted in English. 

6 ‘‘§ 165. Rules of construction 

7 ‘‘Nothing in this chapter shall be construed— 

8 ‘‘(1) to prohibit a Member of Congress or any 

9 officer or agent of the Federal Government, while 

10 performing official functions, from communicating 

11 unofficially through any medium with another per12 son in a language other than English (as long as of13 ficial functions are performed in English); 

14 ‘‘(2) to limit the preservation or use of Native 

15 Alaskan or Native American languages (as defined 

16 in the Native American Languages Act); 

17 ‘‘(3) to disparage any language or to discourage 

18 any person from learning or using a language; or 

19 ‘‘(4) to be inconsistent with the Constitution of 

20 the United States. 

21 ‘‘§ 166. Standing 

22 ‘‘A person injured by a violation of this chapter may 

23 in a civil action (including an action under chapter 151 

24 of title 28) obtain appropriate relief.’’. 

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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 

2 at the beginning of title 4, United States Code, is amended 

3 by inserting after the item relating to chapter 5 the fol4 lowing new item: 

‘‘CHAPTER 6. OFFICIAL LANGUAGE’’. 

5 SEC. 4. GENERAL RULES OF CONSTRUCTION FOR ENGLISH 

6 LANGUAGE TEXTS OF THE LAWS OF THE 

7 UNITED STATES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 1, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing new section: 

11 ‘‘§ 9. General rules of construction for laws of the 

12 United States 

13 ‘‘(a) English language requirements and workplace 

14 policies, whether in the public or private sector, shall be 

15 presumptively consistent with the laws of the United 

16 States. 

17 ‘‘(b) Any ambiguity in the English language text of 

18 the laws of the United States shall be resolved, in accord19 ance with the last two articles of the Bill of Rights, not 

20 to deny or disparage rights retained by the people, and 

21 to reserve powers to the States respectively, or to the peo22 ple.’’. 

23 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

24 at the beginning of chapter 1 of title 1, is amended by 

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1 inserting after the item relating to section 8 the following 

2 new item: 

‘‘9. General rules of construction for laws of the United States.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS. 

4 The Secretary of Homeland Security shall, within 

5 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, issue 

6 for public notice and comment a proposed rule for uniform 

7 testing English language ability of candidates for natu8 ralization, based upon the principles that— 

9 (1) all citizens should be able to read and un10 derstand generally the English language text of the 

11 Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and 

12 the laws of the United States which are made in 

13 pursuance thereof; and 

14 (2) any exceptions to this standard should be 

15 limited to extraordinary circumstances, such as asy16 lum. 

17 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

18 The amendments made by sections 3 and 4 shall take 

19 effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of the 

20 enactment of this Act. 

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