[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 30 (Friday, February 16, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2179-S2180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Cochran, Mr.

[[Page S2180]]

        Dodd, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Kohl, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
        Rockefeller, Ms. Snowe, and Ms. Stabenow):
  S. 675. A bill to provide competitive grants for training court 
reporters and closed captioners to meet requirements for realtime 
writers under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation, the 
Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2007, on behalf of myself and my 
colleagues, Senators Grassley, Cochran, Dodd, Durbin, Kerry, Kohl, 
Murray, Rockefeller, Snowe and Stabenow.
  The 1996 Telecom Act required that all television broadcasts were to 
be captioned by 2006 and all Spanish language programming was to be 
captioned by 2010. This was a much needed reform that has helped 
millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans to be able to take full 
advantage of television programming. And now the first deadline has 
passed. On January 1, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began 
fining stations for not captioning.
  Unfortunately, the United States has fallen behind in training 
captioners. We must jump start training programs to supply captioning 
for the many broadcasters just realizing their obligation now. And 
looking forward, we need to get students in the pipeline now to begin 
to address the need for Spanish language broadcasting.
  This is an issue that I feel very strongly about because my late 
brother, Frank, was deaf. I know personally that access to culture, 
news, and other media was important to him and to others in achieving a 
better quality of life. More than 30 million Americans are considered 
deaf or hard of hearing and many require captioning services to 
participate in mainstream activities. In 1990, I authored legislation 
that required all television sets to be equipped with a computer chip 
to decode closed captioning. This bill completes the promise of that 
technology, affording deaf and hard of hearing Americans the same 
equality and access that captioning provides.
  With baby boomers aging, the percentage of the population with 
hearing loss is increasing dramatically and will continue to outpace 
population growth for the next decade. But let me emphasize that the 
deaf and hard of hearing population is only one of a number of groups 
that will benefit from the legislation. The audience for captioning 
also includes individuals seeking to acquire or improve literacy 
skills, including approximately functionally illiterate adults, 
immigrants learning English as a second language, and children learning 
to read. Empirical research studies have been conducted repeatedly 
since 1988 to demonstrate that captions improve the performance of 
individuals learning to read English.
  I see people using closed captioning to stay informed everywhere--
from the gym to the airport. Here in the Senate, I would wager that 
many individuals on our staff have the captioning turned on right now 
to follow what is happening on the Senate floor while they go about 
conducting the meetings and phone calls that advance legislation. 
Captioning helps people educate themselves and helps all of us stay 
informed and entertained when audio isn't the most appropriate medium.
  Although the 2006 deadline has passed, our nation is facing a serious 
shortage of captioners. The rate of job placement upon graduation nears 
100 percent. In addition, the majority of closed captioners are 
independent contractors. They are the small businesses that run the 
American economy and we should do everything we can to promote the 
creation and support of those businesses.
  That is why my colleagues and I are re-introducing this vital piece 
of legislation. The Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2007 would 
establish competitive grants to be used toward training real time 
captioners. This is necessary to ensure that we meet the promises we 
made in the 1996 Telecom Act.
  The Senate Commerce Committee reported this bill unanimously in the 
last two sessions, the full Senate has passed this Act without 
objection three times now, and we stand here today, once again at the 
beginning of the process. I am hopeful that this will be the Congress 
moves our country forward on this accessibility issue. I ask my 
colleagues to join us once again in support of this legislation and 
join us in our effort to win its passage into law.

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