II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1109 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2023 

Mr. VANCE (for himself and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Unity Act of 2023’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds and declares the following: 

6 (1) The United States is comprised of individ7 uals from diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic 

8 backgrounds. 

9 (2) Throughout the history of the United 

10 States, a common thread binding citizens of dif11 fering backgrounds has been the English language. 

12 (3) Among the powers reserved to the States 

13 respectively is the power to establish the English 

14 language as the official language of the respective 

15 States, and otherwise to promote the English lan16 guage within the respective States, subject to the 

17 prohibitions enumerated in the Constitution of the 

18 United States and in laws of the respective States. 

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

20 STATES. 

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

22 amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘CHAPTER 6—OFFICIAL LANGUAGE 

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

25 ‘‘The official language of the United States is 

26 English. 


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1 ‘‘§ 162. Preserving and enhancing the role of the offi2 cial language 

3 ‘‘Representatives of the Federal Government shall 

4 have an affirmative obligation to preserve and enhance the 

5 role of English as the official language of the Federal Gov6 ernment. Such obligation shall include encouraging great7 er opportunities for individuals to learn the English lan8 guage. 

9 ‘‘§ 163. Official functions of Government to be con10 ducted in English 

11 ‘‘(a) SCOPE.—For the purposes of this section— 

12 ‘‘(1) the term ‘official’ refers to any function 

13 that— 

14 ‘‘(A) binds the Government; 

15 ‘‘(B) is required by law; or 

16 ‘‘(C) is otherwise subject to scrutiny by ei17 ther the press or the public; and 

18 ‘‘(2) the term ‘United States’ means the several 

19 States and the District of Columbia. 

20 ‘‘(b) OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS.—The official functions 

21 of the Government of the United States shall be conducted 

22 in English. 

23 ‘‘(c) PRACTICAL EFFECT.—This section— 

24 ‘‘(1) shall apply to all laws, public proceedings, 

25 regulations, publications, orders, actions, programs, 

26 and policies; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) shall not apply to— 

2 ‘‘(A) teaching of languages; 

3 ‘‘(B) requirements under the Individuals 

4 with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

5 1400 et seq.); 

6 ‘‘(C) actions, documents, or policies nec7 essary for national security, international rela8 tions, trade, tourism, or commerce; 

9 ‘‘(D) actions or documents that protect the 

10 public health and safety; 

11 ‘‘(E) actions or documents that facilitate 

12 the activities of the Bureau of the Census in 

13 compiling any census of population; 

14 ‘‘(F) actions that protect the rights of vic15 tims of crimes or criminal defendants; or 

16 ‘‘(G) using terms of art or phrases from 

17 languages other than English. 

18 ‘‘§ 164. Uniform English language rule for naturaliza19 tion 

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

21 citizens of the United States should be able to read and 

22 understand generally the English language text of the 

23 Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the 

24 United States, and the laws of the United States made 

25 in pursuance of the Constitution of the United States. 


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

2 shall be conducted in English. 

3 ‘‘§ 165. Rules of construction 

4 ‘‘Nothing in this chapter shall be construed— 

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

6 officer or agent of the Federal Government, while 

7 performing official functions under section 163, from 

8 communicating unofficially through any medium 

9 with another person in a language other than 

10 English (as long as official functions are performed 

11 in English); 

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

13 Alaskan or Native American languages (as defined 

14 in the Native American Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 

15 2901 et seq.)); 

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

17 any person from learning or using a language; or 

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

19 the United States. 

20 ‘‘§ 166. Standing 

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

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

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

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

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


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1 by inserting after the item relating to chapter 5 the fol2 lowing: 

‘‘CHAPTER 6. OFFICIAL LANGUAGE’’. 

3 SEC. 4. GENERAL RULES OF CONSTRUCTION FOR ENGLISH 

4 LANGUAGE TEXTS OF THE LAWS OF THE 

5 UNITED STATES. 

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

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

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

10 United States 

11 ‘‘(a) English language requirements and workplace 

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

13 presumptively consistent with the laws of the United 

14 States. 

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

16 the laws of the United States shall be resolved, in accord17 ance with the last two articles of the Bill of Rights, not 

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

19 to reserve powers to the States respectively, or to the peo20 ple.’’. 

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

22 at the beginning of chapter 1 of title 1, United States 

23 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

24 section 8 the following: 

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


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1 SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS. 

2 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

3 of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall issue 

4 for public notice and comment a proposed rule for uniform 

5 testing English language ability of candidates for natu6 ralization, which shall be based upon the principles that— 

7 (1) all citizens of the United States should be 

8 able to read and understand generally the English 

9 language text of the Declaration of Independence, 

10 the Constitution of the United States, and the laws 

11 of the United States which are made in pursuance 

12 thereof; and 

13 (2) any exceptions to the standard described in 

14 paragraph (1) should be limited to extraordinary cir15 cumstances. 

16 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

17 The amendments made by sections 3 and 4 shall take 

18 effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of enact19 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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