[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 21, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4898-S4899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 88--RELATIVE TO THE JUMP$TART COALITION FOR PERSONAL 
                                LITERACY

  Mr. D'AMATO submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs;

                               S. Res. 88

       Whereas at a time when more consumers are using credit than 
     ever before, the financial skills of young adults are not 
     adequate to cope with the rapid, technologically driven 
     development of new financial products and new ways to deliver 
     those products;
       Whereas lack of financial management skills is a major 
     cause of rising consumer bankruptcies and family crises, and 
     generally impairs the health and welfare of the general 
     public;
       Whereas it is critical that students and young adults 
     develop functional skills in money management, including 
     basic budgeting, savings, investing, spending, and income;
       Whereas the Senate commends the Jump$tart Coalition for 
     Personal Financial Literacy for its effort to promote 
     personal financial literacy; and

[[Page S4899]]

       Whereas the Senate supports the Coalition's objective of 
     promoting education to ensure that basic personal management 
     skills are attained during the kindergarten through 12th 
     grade educational experience: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the goal 
     of having young adults who can enter the mainstream of an 
     increasingly complex financial world with confidence and 
     prudence is one which can be advanced through coordinated 
     efforts such as the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal 
     Financial Literacy.
  Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise today to submit a sense-of-the-
Senate resolution on a subject of profound importance for the youth of 
our Nation and the future economic well-being of our citizens and our 
country. It is a subject that every single adult in our country must 
deal with on a day-to-day basis and whose fortune depends on its 
successful application. And yet, no matter how vital this subject is, 
we often don't realize what scant energy and resources are devoted to 
mastering it. What is this subject that is woven throughout our lives, 
touching everyone but which is frequently ignored? Simply put, it is 
financial literacy; the ability to manage money.
  Modern American life offers us a world of almost limitless financial 
possibilities. Marshalling all the knowledge and resources of the 
modern marketplace, people today are provided with a tremendous variety 
of choices about how to earn a living, invest for the future, and 
provide security for their families. The benefits of such financial 
diversity are obviously great, but only if coupled with the knowledge 
of how to apply basic economic reasoning. For all too many of our 
fellow citizens, this knowledge was never imparted to them in all their 
years of schooling.
  The consequences of such financial ignorance are obvious and 
extremely costly, not only on a personal level, but also to the 
country's economy. Extraordinarily high consumer debt, bankruptcy, low 
savings rates, the inability of many to make sound and reasonable 
budgets and financial plans--these are the symptoms of a disease that 
sap our Nation's strength, Mr. President. A disease of financial 
ignorance and apathy. But fortunately one with a cure, if we just make 
the effort to teach our children the basic financial management skills 
we've always assumed that they had.
  Our schools teach reading, writing, history, languages, mathematics, 
and science, among other subjects. But do we teach our children how to 
balance a checkbook? Do we instruct them on the beauty of compounding 
interest, which allows one to save vast amounts of money over the long 
term for an education, or retirement, or to buy a home? Do we instruct 
them in avoiding the credit card trap of easy financing, only to be hit 
later with high finance charges? Do we train students to understand how 
to budget their money, and do they realize the relationship of taxes, 
spending, and investing? Too often, Mr. President, we do not.
  The resolution I place before the Senate today recognizes the danger 
to our Nation's continued economic vitality by its support of an 
innovative public-private partnership, called the Jump$tart Coalition 
for Personal Financial Literacy. Jump$tart's primary goal is to improve 
the financial literacy of our children from kindergarten through 
twelfth grade by strengthening curriculums across the country in their 
teaching of basic financial management skills, such as budgeting, 
saving, investing, and borrowing.
  Additionally, Jump$tart puts into place mechanisms to survey high 
school seniors every other year to monitor the understanding of the 
students toward financial literacy. With the data provided by the 
surveys, we will be able to track the progress of schools as they 
improve their teaching of financial literacy.
  Mr. President, the Jump$tart Coalition will also create a national 
data base to hold an annotated listing of information in personal 
finance education. I believe this will be an invaluable clearinghouse 
of knowledge, giving our teachers and school districts a wide range of 
teaching materials which they can choose from to suit their particular 
situation.
  Recognizing how important financial literacy is to the future success 
of our country, an impressive roster of participating organizations has 
lined up in support of the Jump$tart Coalition. From the Federal 
Reserve, to the American Financial Services Association to the Consumer 
Bankers Association to institutions of higher learning, including one 
from my home State, the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oneonta; 
they know the keys to personal success lie with teaching kids financial 
smarts. The Wall Street Journal has signed on as well, utilizing their 
innovative Classroom Edition to reach out directly to students, 
offering instruction in money management.
  Mr. President, on Thursday, May 22, the Jump$tart Coalition will 
announce the results of a national survey conducted to gage the 
financial literacy of today's high school seniors. Preliminary results 
highlight the urgent need for work in this area. The Jump$tart 
Coalition initiatives are voluntary, but through public awareness and 
access to curriculum information, I am confident we can make great 
strides in ending the ignorance. The children of today will be the 
economic decision makers of tomorrow; they need dollars and sense savvy 
to make the right decisions for themselves and their families, and with 
a little extra effort, we can teach them. The Jump$tart Coalition is a 
worthy effort at teaching our youth the money management skill 
necessary to prosper in the years to come, and should appeal to members 
from both sides of the aisle. I urge my colleagues to support this 
resolution.

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