[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2516-2517]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        CELEBRATING NATIONAL COURT REPORTING AND CAPTIONING WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Kind) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of National Court 
Reporting and Captioning Week and in appreciation of court reporters 
across the country.
  Court reporters play a critical role in our communities. They are the 
guardians of our public record. They have unique skills translating the 
spoken word into text to be recorded for history. They preserve 
judicial proceedings and assist individuals who are deaf and hard of 
hearing.
  I have seen firsthand the dedication and professionalism shown by 
court reporters from my time as a special prosecutor in Wisconsin and, 
more importantly, from my wife Tawni, who has been a court reporter in 
western Wisconsin for nearly 25 years. I wish her a happy Valentine's 
Day today.
  In addition to the critical role court reporters play in the 
courtroom, the National Court Reporters Association and its members 
have made significant contributions to the success of the Veterans 
History Project. The Veterans History Project, which was created by 
legislation that I authored, is the largest oral history collection in 
the world, having collected over 100,000 stories from our Nation's 
veterans. Their stories are permanently stored at the Library of 
Congress and are available to the public.
  Shortly after the Veterans History Project was launched in 2000, my 
wife Tawni encouraged court reporters across the country to partner 
with the Library of Congress to assist in transcribing veterans' 
stories; and to date, court reporters have submitted over 4,000 oral 
history transcripts to the Library of Congress. Not only have court 
reporters been willing to work with the Library of Congress to 
transcribe stories that had already been submitted, but many court 
reporters have personally gone and interviewed veterans in their local 
communities.

[[Page 2517]]

  For example, last August, at the court reporters' national 
convention, the National Court Reporters Foundation celebrated Purple 
Heart Day by interviewing eight Purple Heart recipients for the 
Veterans History Project. Additionally, the National Court Reporters 
Foundation recently launched a new program called the Hard-of-Hearing 
Heroes Project, where veterans with profound hearing loss will be 
interviewed for the Veterans History Project through the use of 
realtime captioning.
  This is important because, according to the VA, hearing loss is one 
of the most common service-related injuries, and it is estimated that 
60 percent of our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer 
some form of hearing loss. The program will help ensure every veteran 
has a chance to share his or her story.
  As we celebrate National Court Reporting and Captioning Week, I want 
to thank the National Court Reporters Association and its many members 
throughout the country for their hard work and professionalism. I 
especially want to thank the court reporters for their significant 
contributions to the Veterans History Project and to preserving 
veterans' stories for generations to come.

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