House Democrats Propose Bill to Mandate Multilingual Federal Resources

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

Understand,” Meng, who chairs the caucus, said in a statement. “We will continue to fight against the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants and the essential services that our communities rely on and deserve.”

The effort comes after President Donald Trump’s March executive order designated English the official language of the United States. Trump’s directive rescinded the Clinton-era order and all accompanying policy guidance on how federal agencies could best serve non-English speakers.

The administration subsequently canceled some translation and interpretation contracts across multiple federal agencies.

Multiple federal resources for non-English speakers were discontinued or paused after Trump’s executive order. NOTUS reported in July that the Department of Justice “temporarily suspended” LEP.gov, the main site for non-English speakers to access multilingual materials including translated information from federal agencies. The site is still suspended more than six months later, though multilingual resources required by law are still available through other channels.

The Democrats’ bill would require federal agencies to ensure that “individuals with [limited English proficiency] can meaningfully access the Federally-conducted programs and activities,” including by translating documents into commonly spoken languages, offering interpretation services to non-English speakers and employing bilingual agency staff.

The legislation proposed Friday mandates that the federal government reopen access to LEP.gov.

The bill is unlikely to see widespread Republican support, with many GOP lawmakers cheering Trump’s executive order. But some Republicans who represent districts with high non-English-speaking populations said last year that they do not agree with Trump’s English-only efforts.

“I don’t understand why you’d make an issue out of it,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Republican from Florida, told NOTUS in July. “I understand what the president’s trying to do with one language. But, if somebody feels more comfortable, or may speak English but reads Spanish, I don’t have a problem either way.”

The bill would also require the attorney general to create a system for people to submit complaints about barriers to language access in the federal government. LEP.gov previously aggregated links for each federal agency’s processes for filing discrimination complaints under the Civil Rights Act. Users can still submit those complaints, typically through an agency’s civil rights office, but there is no single portal or resource to do so.

Chu called the Trump administration’s actions “an attack on our immigrant communities.”

“In my district, translation services are essential for parents applying for a home loan, seniors accessing Medicare, immigrants starting a small business, and disaster survivors accessing the FEMA’s resources,” she said in a statement, adding that the proposed legislation would “ensure no one is denied health care, housing, or disaster assistance because English is not their first language.”