With permission from the Beaumont Examiner
As published in the 1/12/12 edition of the Beaumont Examiner

By Mike Fuljenz

“In God We Trust.”

Most Americans take those words for granted today and assume they’ve always been part of our national fabric. Thus, many were surprised when the House of Representatives recently voted to reaffirm that this simple phrase is the official national motto.
The phrase “In God We Trust” made headlines in October 2011, when the House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution reaffirming its status as the U.S. national motto. It did so after President Barack Obama mistakenly referred to “E Pluribus Unum” as the nation’s official motto. That familiar phrase – which in Latin means “Out of many, one” – has appeared on U.S. coinage for more than two centuries, but enjoys no official status.
Democrats, including Obama, charged that in drafting and passing the resolution, the Republican-controlled House was wasting time that could have been better spent on hammering out a job-creation bill.
In response, the Republican sponsor of the resolution, Congressman Randy Forbes of Virginia, noted Obama’s earlier misstatement about “E Pluribus Unum” and pointed out that those words had been engraved in the new Capitol Visitors Center until Congress ordered use of the proper inscription.