[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 26 (Thursday, February 11, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       NINTH ANNUAL NATIONAL COURT REPORTING AND CAPTIONING WEEK

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                           HON. RODNEY DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 11, 2021

  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
recognize the important and irreplaceable work done by our court 
reporters and the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) during 
the 9th annual national court reporting and captioning week of February 
6-13.
  As guardians of the record, court reporters have a large impact on 
capturing history for posterity. During our nearly 250 years of 
American history, court reporters have been the cornerstone of our 
American justice system. From George Washington's Farewell Address to 
Lincoln's divided house speech, these noble servants have transcribed 
some of the most important pieces of American history.
  Today, the NCRA provides a free course to introduce realtime writing 
to all Americans. This course allows high schoolers, career changers, 
college redirects, and military veterans to see if a profession in 
realtime writing is a good fit for them.
  Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it's important we focus 
on providing flexibility to our court reporters and ensuring captions 
are adhering to the FCC' s Caption Quality Best Practices--as opposed 
to Automatic Speech Recognition, which oftentimes creates erroneous 
captions.
  I want to thank realtime writers everywhere and the NCRA for all the 
hard work they do.

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