Tancredo offers a solution for Rangel's language snafu

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) feels Charlie Rangel's pain for being lost in translation.

On Wednesday, as reported in the Colorado Independent, Tancredo invited the embattled New York Congressman to co-sponsor his legislation to make English the official language of the United States.

Rangel is in trouble for failing to report $75,000 worth of rental income he received from a luxury villa in the Dominican Republic. Last week, Rangel said he hadn't been aware of the problem because he had trouble getting financial statements from his managers in the Caribbean nation.

"Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they'd start speaking Spanish," Rangel said.  

In a letter sent to Rangel, Tancredo said he was "sympathetic" to Rangel's concerns.

"While passage of this bill will do little to reform our hopelessly complex tax code - or assist you in escaping your current ethical dilemma - its passage may help ensure that future generations of Americans less wealthy than yourself can live in a country where they can use an ATM, call a customer service department, or shop at their local grocery store without having to find a translator or ‘Press 1 for English' as they must often do in the America of today," Tancredo wrote in the letter.

For the record, Spanish is the official language of the Dominican Republic.