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 he U.S. Department
of the Treasury under Secretary Paul O'Neill has become the first
Bush-administration agency to
issue regulations requiring all federally funded entities to provide
services in multiple languages. His agency gets an "A+" for efficiency
and an "F" for policy.
On March 7th, the Federal Register carried Treasury's "Guidance
to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients on the Title VI Prohibition
Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English
Proficient Persons."
"[M]eaningful access" must be now provided by all "recipients of
federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury."
This access must be provided "free of charge" to all non-English-speakers,
including those "whose language does not exist in written form."
Notice of these translation services "in appropriate languages"
is to be inserted into "brochures, pamphlets, manuals and other
materials disseminated to the public and to staff."
The Treasury Department officially rejects the idea that the non-English
speaker might bring along an English-speaking child or neighbor
to translate because "[t]he client's untrained 'interpreter' is
often unable to understand the concepts or official terminology
he or she is being asked to interpret [and] his or her mere presence
may obstruct the flow of confidential information."
Now, it is not immediately obvious why a Limited-English-Proficient
(LEP) person would have more confidence in a government translator
than in a trusted friend, priest, or minister. And yet, should someone
on staff so much as "suggest" that a nervous person bring along
a friend or family member for the purposes of translation, "a recipient
may expose itself to [legal] liability."
At Treasury, access to all services must not be "more limited in
scope or [be] lower in quality than those provided to" English speakers.
How an organization is supposed to verify the quality of the translation
is nowhere explained.
The department's official guidance requires all recipients of Treasury-related
funds to "evaluate their entire language policy at least every three
years." How are they to accomplish that? "One way to evaluate the
LEP policy is to seek feedback from the community." In fact, "consultation
with community organizations that represent LEP language groups"
is part of Treasury's "Model Plan."
Such a feedback process is an open invitation to unlimited complaints
by the self-proclaimed representatives of every conceivable language
group in America.
Such radical language requirements are the sort that might have
been released under the reign of Bill Clinton. In fact, this Bush-administration
policy-guidance document reads like a virtual Xerox of similar documents
issued under the Clinton departments of Justice, Health and Human
Services, and Transportation.
How could a Bush-administration Treasury Secretary approve such
a policy? The answer lies in the problem faced by many top business
executives who arrive in Washington thinking that running a government
agency is just like running a business.
In any corporation, the goal is clear and specific — to make
a profit. The success of the capitalist system is based precisely
on this goal. The best business executive need not worry about the
political agenda of his employees.
The goals of any government agency are equally clear and specific:
to increase its budget, its power, and its payroll. Liberal ideology
supports such goals. Conservative convictions do not. For this reason,
it is essential that a government executive concern himself with
the political agenda of those who advise him.
In government, those firmly committed to a political agenda will
run rings around those concerned only with making the trains run
on time. Those who lack clear policy convictions of their own will
end up doing the bidding of those who do. And like Alec Guinness,
the British POW colonel in the film, The Bridge on the River
Kwai, such folks will end up working day and night to ensure
the success of an enemy strategy.
This is why the Bush administration must root out the Clintonistas
still carrying on the fight from their hidden bunkers throughout
America's federal agencies. Bush Cabinet officials will continue
to get bad advice from these folks as long as they stay in office.
It also wouldn't hurt for the Bush administration to move more swiftly
to repeal Clinton-administration policies, such as Executive Order
13166 — the federal requirement to provide both written and
oral translations in any person's language of choice — which
started this whole mess. While Congressman Bob Stump's legislation
to repeal EO 13166 (H.R.969) has attracted 36 co-sponsors, including
three committee chairmen, the Bush administration need not wait
for Congress to act.
Clinton made America officially multilingual with the stroke of
his pen. Bush can undo much of the ensuing damage the very same
way. This president needs to get his Treasury Department out of
the language business.
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