Kaine delivers entire Senate speech in Spanish

In what may have been a historic first, Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., today delivered a 14-minute speech in Spanish during a U.S. Senate debate on comprehensive immigration reform, pushing for support of a proposal drafted by a group of eight senators.

“Let’s show this country and the world that this is not a Republican bill and it is not a Democratic bill but it is a strong bipartisan bill. It is time that we pass comprehensive immigration reform,” Kaine said.

The Virginian delivered the entire speech in Spanish, which prompted Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., to humor his junior senator on Twitter, calling him a “show-off.”

While other senators have delivered parts of speeches in Spanish, Kaine appears to be the first senator to deliver a complete floor address in the language, according to the U.S. Senate Historical Office.

Kaine learned to speak Spanish in Honduras, where he spent one year working with the Jesuit order as a Catholic missionary while taking a break during law school.

Before taking the Senate floor to speak in another language, Kaine sought and was granted unanimous support from the other senators, as required by Senate rules. Kaine also said he would put an English translation into the Congressional Record.

In his remarks, Kaine said it was not only necessary to debate the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act in English, but also in other languages such as Spanish, that are spoken across the country.

“I think it is appropriate that I spend a few minutes explaining the bill in Spanish, a language that has been spoken in this country since Spanish missionaries founded St. Augustine, Florida in 1565,” Kaine said.

“Spanish is also spoken by almost 40 million Americans who have a lot at stake in the outcome of this debate,” he said.

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