News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan

Some lawmakers want to make English the official langauge of Michigan

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Jennifer Pack

Party leaders in the state House of Representatives are sparring over whether to make English the state language.

During a committee hearing on the issue, House Minority Leader Sam Singh got a little testy. He proposed amendments like “make the Gregorian calendar the official calendar of Michigan”

“To me, if you’re gonna play those kinds of political games instead of actually doing the work that people actually sent us to do then I need to actually show that this was a political thing. And that’s why I offered up the amendments.”

But Speaker of the House Tom Leonard says he’s on board with the bill.

Leonard says a common language binds people together and, for Michigan, that’s English.

“You know I believe when you look at nations, when you look at states, a common language binds you together. And certainly English is that language here in the United States.”

Leonard says he’ll run the bill by the rest of the party before he puts it up for a vote.

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