How much money did Democratic presidential candidates spend on interpreting services?

[Transcript] The Des Moines Register did a nice analysis on how much money Democratic presidential candidates spent on ASL interpreting services from July 1 to September 30, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

The candidate that spent the most is Sen. Bernie Sanders with over $23,000. The second is Sen. Cory Booker at over $10,000 and the third is Sen. Elizabeth Warren at over $5,000.

Look at this list.

TEXT:

Sanders: $23,302.65

Booker: $10,798.81

Warren: $5,550.64

Harris: $5,099.6

Buttigieg: $4,530.08

Biden: $1,895

Yang: $1,712.48

Steyer: $670.28

O'Rourke: $544.9

Williamson: $110

The Des Moines Register said Democratic presidential campaigns have spent more than $54,000 on interpreting and translation services from July 1 to September 30. They explained that the actual amounts could be different because some interpreting services could be included in general event expenses.

I looked at the FEC website and was able to see a list of disbursements that political campaigns made. There is an ability to put in specific search terms such as "interpreting," "interpreters," or "sign language."

I was able to pull up over 70 results for expenses for interpreters by various campaigns. Most of them were between $300 to $700, but there were multiple instances of costs going over $1,000 and some went above $2,000. Some of the expenses went directly to individual interpreters while others went to agencies.

The highest amount was $5,530 which was paid by the Democratic National Committee in two payments to D.C. based agency "The Wright House Co" on March 1 of this year. It is not clear what event this was, but the DNC hosted a "winter meeting" in D.C. on February 16 to 19. So this could be the event.

The two second-highest payments are when Bernie's campaign paid $2,840 to Cedar Rapids based "Hands Up Communications" on April 25. The other was when Sen. Kamala Harris' campaign paid $2,824 to San Diego based "Interpreters Unlimited, Inc" on May 28.

The president of the Cedar Rapids Association of the Deaf, David Legg, told the newspaper that every political event should have an interpreter prearranged because there is no reason "we should have to tell them to have an interpreter."

Catherine Crist, who is the disability caucus chair for the Iowa Democratic Party, said people with disabilities often don't risk the time, money, and energy to go to political events if they are not sure if they are able to participate. Crist said it is an improper question to ask, "How many people need ASL?" She said it is a civil right to provide accommodations and that the cost is the cost of doing business.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/10/28/presidential-candidates-using-more-sign-language-interpreters-in-2019/4066278002/

https://www.fec.gov

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