Senator Tom Harkin Receives Congressional Guardian of the Record Award

(Vienna, VA, March 12, 2003) - In recognition of his dedication to the needs of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities, the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) presented Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) with the "Congressional Guardian of the Record" Award last week. During the 107th Congress, Senator Harkin sponsored a bill to help over 28 million deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans obtain access to the captioning providers they desperately need.

Sen. Harkin also recently introduced bipartisan legislation with 16 additional Senators that will help meet the increasing demand for broadcast captioning and communication access realtime translation (CART) services by millions of Americans. The "Training for Realtime Writers Act" seeks $60 million over three years to train realtime writers to meet the captioning and CART requirements established by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

"In Iowa, nearly eight percent of the population is deaf or hard-of-hearing, and millions of Americans have some form of hearing loss," said Sen. Harkin. "I fully support legislation that provides the same equal access that other Americans have to news, vital information, entertainment and sports, as well as active involvement in meeting settings, so they can participate fully and effectively in society."

"Each year, the National Court Reporters Association presents one member of Congress with our Congressional Guardian of the Record Award," said Mark J. Golden, CAE, executive director of the National Court Reporters Association. "Senator Harkin deserves this recognition for going beyond the call of duty to not only advance the court reporting and captioning professions nationwide, but to protect the interests of the millions of Americans who rely on reporters and captioners for communication access."

About the National Court Reporters Association
NCRA is a 27,000-member nonprofit organization representing the judicial reporting and captioning professions. Members include official court reporters, deposition reporters, broadcast captioners, providers of realtime communication access services for deaf and hard-of-hearing people and others who capture and convert the spoken word into information bases and readable formats. Additional information is available by calling 800-272-6272 (TTY 703-556-6289) or visiting their Web site at www.NCRAonline.org.