House Democrats Propose Bill to Mandate Multilingual Federal Resources

The bill is in direct response to the Trump administration’s efforts to make English the official language of the United States.

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Rep. Grace Meng is among the Democrats sponsoring this bill to require the government to offer materials in multiple languages. Tom Williams/AP

A group of Democratic House lawmakers want to require the federal government to offer information and written materials in multiple languages — a direct response to the Trump administration’s efforts to cut resources for non-English speakers.

Reps. Grace Meng, Judy Chu, Juan Vargas and Dan Goldman — members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus — on Friday will introduce legislation that would codify a Clinton-era executive order mandating that federal agencies offer resources to non-English speakers, according to bill text viewed by NOTUS.

“Every American deserves equal access to federal services and programs in a language they can