Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1772 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1772
5	5	To declare English as the official language of the United States, to establish
6	6	a uniform English language rule for naturalization, and to avoid mis-
7	7	constructions of the English language texts of the laws of the United
8	8	States, pursuant to Congress’ powers to provide for the general welfare
9	9	of the United States and to establish a uniform rule of naturalization
10	10	under article I, section 8, of the Constitution.
11	11	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
12	12	MARCH3, 2025
13	13	Mr. A
14	14	DERHOLT(for himself, Mr. NORMAN, Mrs. HARSHBARGER, Mr. GRAVES,
15	15	Mr. H
16	16	AMADEHof Arizona, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. STRONG, Mr. MOOREof Ala-
17	17	bama, Mr. R
18	18	OGERSof Alabama, and Mr. PALMER) introduced the fol-
19	19	lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Work-
20	20	force, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period
21	21	to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
22	22	ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
23	23	concerned
24	24	A BILL
25	25	To declare English as the official language of the United
26	26	States, to establish a uniform English language rule for
27	27	naturalization, and to avoid misconstructions of the
28	28	English language texts of the laws of the United States,
29	29	pursuant to Congress’ powers to provide for the general
30	30	welfare of the United States and to establish a uniform
31	31	rule of naturalization under article I, section 8, of the
32	32	Constitution.
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35	35	•HR 1772 IH
36	36	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
37	37	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
38	38	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
39	39	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Designation of English 4
40	40	as the Official Language of the United States Act of 5
41	41	2025’’. 6
42	42	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7
43	43	The Congress finds and declares the following: 8
44	44	(1) The United States is composed of individ-9
45	45	uals from diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic 10
46	46	backgrounds, and continues to benefit from this rich 11
47	47	diversity. 12
48	48	(2) Throughout the history of the United 13
49	49	States, the common thread binding individuals of 14
50	50	differing backgrounds has been the English lan-15
51	51	guage. 16
52	52	(3) Among the powers reserved to the States 17
53	53	respectively is the power to establish the English 18
54	54	language as the official language of the respective 19
55	55	States, and otherwise to promote the English lan-20
56	56	guage within the respective States, subject to the 21
57	57	prohibitions enumerated in the Constitution of the 22
58	58	United States and in laws of the respective States. 23
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61	61	•HR 1772 IH
62	62	(4) President Donald J. Trump signed an Exec-1
63	63	utive order on March 1, 2025 ‘‘Designating English 2
64	64	as the Official Language of The United States.’’ 3
65	65	SEC. 3. ENGLISH AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED 4
66	66	STATES. 5
67	67	(a) I
68	68	NGENERAL.—Title 4, United States Code, is 6
69	69	amended by adding at the end the following new chapter: 7
70	70	‘‘CHAPTER 6—OFFICIAL LANGUAGE 8
71	71	‘‘SEC. 161. OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES. 9
72	72	‘‘The official language of the United States is 10
73	73	English. 11
74	74	‘‘SEC. 162. PRESERVING AND ENHANCING THE ROLE OF 12
75	75	THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. 13
76	76	‘‘Representatives of the Federal Government 14
77	77	shall have an affirmative obligation to preserve and 15
78	78	enhance the role of English as the official language 16
79	79	of the Federal Government. Such obligation shall in-17
80	80	clude encouraging greater opportunities for individ-18
81	81	uals to learn the English language. 19
82	82	‘‘SEC. 163. OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT TO BE 20
83	83	CONDUCTED IN ENGLISH. 21
84	84	‘‘(a) O
85	85	FFICIALFUNCTIONS.—The official functions 22
86	86	of the Government of the United States shall be conducted 23
87	87	in English. 24
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91	91	‘‘(b) SCOPE.—For the purposes of this section, the 1
92	92	term ‘United States’ means the several States and the 2
93	93	District of Columbia, and the term ‘official’ refers to any 3
94	94	function that (i) binds the Government, (ii) is required 4
95	95	by law, or (iii) is otherwise subject to scrutiny by either 5
96	96	the press or the public. 6
97	97	‘‘(c) P
98	98	RACTICALEFFECT.—This section shall apply 7
99	99	to all laws, public proceedings, regulations, publications, 8
100	100	orders, actions, programs, and policies, but does not apply 9
101	101	to— 10
102	102	‘‘(1) teaching of languages; 11
103	103	‘‘(2) requirements under the Individuals with 12
104	104	Disabilities Education Act; 13
105	105	‘‘(3) actions, documents, or policies necessary 14
106	106	for national security, international relations, trade, 15
107	107	tourism, or commerce; 16
108	108	‘‘(4) actions or documents that protect the pub-17
109	109	lic health and safety; 18
110	110	‘‘(5) actions or documents that facilitate the ac-19
111	111	tivities of the Bureau of the Census in compiling any 20
112	112	census of population; 21
113	113	‘‘(6) actions that protect the rights of victims of 22
114	114	crimes or criminal defendants; or 23
115	115	‘‘(7) using terms of art or phrases from lan-24
116	116	guages other than English. 25
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120	120	‘‘SEC. 164. UNIFORM ENGLISH LANGUAGE RULE FOR NATU-1
121	121	RALIZATION. 2
122	122	‘‘(a) U
123	123	NIFORMLANGUAGETESTINGSTANDARD.—All 3
124	124	citizens should be able to read and understand generally 4
125	125	the English language text of the Declaration of Independ-5
126	126	ence, the Constitution, and the laws of the United States 6
127	127	made in pursuance of the Constitution. 7
128	128	‘‘(b) C
129	129	EREMONIES.—All naturalization ceremonies 8
130	130	shall be conducted in English. 9
131	131	‘‘SEC. 165. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 10
132	132	‘‘Nothing in this chapter shall be construed— 11
133	133	‘‘(1) to prohibit a Member of Congress or any 12
134	134	officer or agent of the Federal Government, while 13
135	135	performing official functions, from communicating 14
136	136	unofficially through any medium with another per-15
137	137	son in a language other than English (as long as of-16
138	138	ficial functions are performed in English); 17
139	139	‘‘(2) to limit the preservation or use of Native 18
140	140	Alaskan or Native American languages (as defined 19
141	141	in the Native American Languages Act); 20
142	142	‘‘(3) to disparage any language or to discourage 21
143	143	any person from learning or using a language; or 22
144	144	‘‘(4) to be inconsistent with the Constitution of 23
145	145	the United States. 24
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148	148	•HR 1772 IH
149	149	‘‘SEC. 166. STANDING. 1
150	150	‘‘A person injured by a violation of this chapter may 2
151	151	in a civil action (including an action under chapter 151 3
152	152	of title 28) obtain appropriate relief.’’. 4
153	153	(b) C
154	154	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 5
155	155	at the beginning of title 4, United States Code, is amended 6
156	156	by inserting after the item relating to chapter 5 the fol-7
157	157	lowing new item: 8
158	158	‘‘Chapter 6. Official Language’’. 9
159	159	SEC. 4. GENERAL RULES OF CONSTRUCTION FOR ENGLISH 10
160	160	LANGUAGE TEXTS OF THE LAWS OF THE 11
161	161	UNITED STATES. 12
162	162	(a) I
163	163	NGENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 1, United 13
164	164	States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-14
165	165	lowing new section: 15
166	166	‘‘SEC. 9. GENERAL RULES OF CONSTRUCTION FOR LAWS OF 16
167	167	THE UNITED STATES. 17
168	168	‘‘(a) English language requirements and workplace 18
169	169	policies, whether in the public or private sector, shall be 19
170	170	presumptively consistent with the laws of the United 20
171	171	States. 21
172	172	‘‘(b) Any ambiguity in the English language text of 22
173	173	the laws of the United States shall be resolved, in accord-23
174	174	ance with the last two articles of the Bill of Rights, not 24
175	175	to deny or disparage rights retained by the people, and 25
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178	178	•HR 1772 IH
179	179	to reserve powers to the States respectively, or to the peo-1
180	180	ple.’’. 2
181	181	(b) C
182	182	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 3
183	183	at the beginning of chapter 1 of title 1 is amended by 4
184	184	inserting after the item relating to section 8 the following 5
185	185	new item: 6
186	186	‘‘9. General rules of construction for laws of the United States.’’.
187	187	SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS.
188	188	7
189	189	The Secretary of Homeland Security shall, within 8
190	190	180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, issue 9
191	191	for public notice and comment a proposed rule for uniform 10
192	192	testing of English language ability of candidates for natu-11
193	193	ralization, based upon the principles that— 12
194	194	(1) all citizens should be able to read and un-13
195	195	derstand generally the English language text of the 14
196	196	Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and 15
197	197	the laws of the United States which are made in 16
198	198	pursuance thereof; and 17
199	199	(2) any exceptions to this standard should be 18
200	200	limited to extraordinary circumstances, such as asy-19
201	201	lum. 20
202	202	SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 21
203	203	The amendments made by sections 3 and 4 shall take 22
204	204	effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of the 23
205	205	enactment of this Act. 24
206	206	Æ
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