[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 27, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4419-S4420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CORZINE (for himself, Mr. Akaka, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
        Lautenberg, Mr. Sarbanes, and Mr. Baucus):
  S. 924. A bill to establish a grant program to enhance the financial 
and retirement literacy of mid-life and older Americans to reduce 
financial abuse and fraud among such Americans, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. CORZINE. Mr. President, I would like to speak today about an 
issue that I believe should be a lifelong goal for all Americans--
financial literacy.
  More specifically, I want to highlight the necessity of financial 
literacy for men and women who are close to retirement. Senior citizens 
are too often the victims of predatory mortgage and lending abuses and 
other financial scams. AARP surveys show that over half of 
telemarketing fraud victims are age 50 or older. In fact, financial 
exploitation is the largest single category of abuse against older 
persons. It is clear that the vulnerability of this population stems 
from a lack of financial knowledge, so it is more important than ever 
that this Congress take steps to increase the availability of financial 
education for midlife and senior citizens.
  Not only does poor financial literacy leave older Americans 
vulnerable to financial fraud, but it also leads to poor retirement 
planning. In the next thirty years, the number of Americans over the 
age of 65 will double. For many of these Americans, Social Security 
alone will be insufficient to cover all their expenses, particularly as 
health care costs rise. Only about half of American workers are 
currently participating in any pension plan, leaving more than 75 
million Americans without an employer-sponsored pension. Even worse is 
the fact that fifty million Americans have no retirement savings 
whatsoever. These statistics are frightening. As our population lives 
longer, we must focus on retirement education for mid-life and aging 
Americans as well as consumer education for seniors.
  My legislation, the Education for Retirement Security Act will 
address the need for financial literacy among seniors by creating a 
$100 million competitive grant program that would provide resources to 
State and area agencies on aging, and nonprofit community based 
organizations, to provide financial education to mid-life and older 
Americans. The goal of this education is to enhance these individuals' 
financial and retirement knowledge and reduce their vulnerability to 
financial abuse and fraud, including telemarketing, mortgage, and 
pension fraud. The bill also creates a national technical assistance 
program that will designate at least one national grantee to provide 
financial education materials and training to local grantees.
  I am proud to be reintroducing this legislation during the month of 
April, which is Financial Literacy Month.
  We must offer those individuals who are close to or in retirement the 
tools they will need to make sound financial decisions and prepare 
appropriately for their retirement. The Education for Retirement 
Security Act will help older Americans learn how to avoid scams and 
invest well. With savvy financial planning and smart consumer skills, 
senior citizens will be more empowered to protect themselves and 
ultimately be better able to enjoy a more secure retirement.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 924

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Education for Retirement 
     Security Act of 2005''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) Improving financial literacy is a critical and complex 
     task for Americans of all ages.
       (2) Low levels of savings and high levels of personal and 
     real estate debt are serious problems for many households 
     nearing retirement.
       (3) Only 53 percent of working Americans have any form of 
     pension coverage. Three out of four women aged 65 or over 
     receive no income from employer-provided pensions.
       (4) The more limited timeframe that mid-life and older 
     individuals and families have to assess the realities of 
     their individual circumstances, to recover from counter-
     productive choices and decisionmaking processes, and to 
     benefit from more informed financial practices, has immediate 
     impact and near term consequences for Americans nearing or of 
     retirement age.
       (5) Research indicates that there are now 4 basic sources 
     of retirement income security. Those sources are social 
     security benefits, pensions and savings, healthcare insurance 
     coverage, and, for an increasing number of older individuals, 
     necessary earnings from working during one's ``retirement'' 
     years.
       (6) Over the next 30 years, the number of older individuals 
     in the United States is expected to double, from 35,000,000 
     to nearly 75,000,000, and long-term care costs are expected 
     to skyrocket.
       (7) Financial exploitation is the largest single category 
     of abuse against older individuals and this population 
     comprises more than \1/2\ of all telemarketing victims in the 
     United States.
       (8) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Identity Theft Data 
     Clearinghouse has reported that incidents of identity theft 
     targeting individuals over the age of 60 increased from 1,821 
     victims in 2000 to 21,084 victims in 2004, an increase of 
     more than 11 times in number.

     SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM TO ENHANCE FINANCIAL AND RETIREMENT 
                   LITERACY AND REDUCE FINANCIAL ABUSE AND FRAUD 
                   AMONG MID-LIFE AND OLDER AMERICANS.

       (a) Authority.--The Secretary is authorized to award grants 
     to eligible entities to provide financial education programs 
     to mid-life and older individuals who reside in local 
     communities in order to--
       (1) enhance financial and retirement knowledge among such 
     individuals; and
       (2) reduce financial abuse and fraud, including 
     telemarketing, mortgage, and pension fraud, among such 
     individuals.
       (b) Eligible Entities.--An entity is eligible to receive a 
     grant under this section if such entity is--
       (1) a State agency or area agency on aging; or
       (2) a nonprofit organization with a proven record of 
     providing--
       (A) services to mid-life and older individuals;
       (B) consumer awareness programs; or
       (C) supportive services to low-income families.
       (c) Application.--An eligible entity desiring a grant under 
     this section shall submit an application to the Secretary in 
     such form and containing such information as the Secretary 
     may require, including a plan for continuing the programs 
     provided with grant funds under this section after the grant 
     expires.
       (d) Limitation on Administrative Costs.--A recipient of a 
     grant under this section may not use more than 4 percent of 
     the total amount of the grant in each fiscal year for the 
     administrative costs of carrying out the programs provided 
     with grant funds under this section.
       (e) Evaluation and Report.--
       (1) Establishment of performance measures.--The Secretary 
     shall develop measures to evaluate the programs provided with 
     grant funds under this section.
       (2) Evaluation according to performance measures.--Applying 
     the performance measures developed under paragraph (1), the 
     Secretary shall evaluate the programs provided with grant 
     funds under this section in order to--
       (A) judge the performance and effectiveness of such 
     programs;
       (B) identify which programs represent the best practices of 
     entities developing such programs for mid-life and older 
     individuals; and
       (C) identify which programs may be replicated.
       (3) Annual reports.--For each fiscal year in which a grant 
     is awarded under this section, the Secretary shall submit a 
     report to Congress containing a description of the status of 
     the grant program under this section, a description of the 
     programs provided with grant funds under this section, and 
     the results of the evaluation of such programs under 
     paragraph (2).

[[Page S4420]]

     SEC. 4. NATIONAL TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.

       (a) Authority.--The Secretary is authorized to award a 
     grant to 1 or more eligible entities to--
       (1) create and make available instructional materials and 
     information that promote financial education; and
       (2) provide training and other related assistance regarding 
     the establishment of financial education programs to eligible 
     entities awarded a grant under section 3.
       (b) Eligible Entities.--An entity is eligible to receive a 
     grant under this section if such entity is a national 
     nonprofit organization with substantial experience in the 
     field of financial education.
       (c) Application.--An eligible entity desiring a grant under 
     this section shall submit an application to the Secretary in 
     such form and containing such information as the Secretary 
     may require.
       (d) Basis and Term.--The Secretary shall award a grant 
     under this section on a competitive, merit basis for a term 
     of 5 years.

     SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Financial education.--The term ``financial education'' 
     means education that promotes an understanding of consumer, 
     economic, and personal finance concepts, including saving for 
     retirement, long-term care, and estate planning and education 
     on predatory lending and financial abuse schemes.
       (2) Mid-life individual.--The term ``mid-life individual'' 
     means an individual aged 45 to 64 years.
       (3) Older individual.--The term ``older individual'' means 
     an individual aged 65 or older.
       (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Health and Human Services.

     SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       (a) Authorization.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
     to carry out this Act, $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal 
     years 2006 through 2010.
       (b) Limitation on Funds for Evaluation and Report.--The 
     Secretary may not use more than $200,000 of the amounts 
     appropriated under subsection (a) for each fiscal year to 
     carry out section 3(e).
       (c) Limitation on Funds for Training and Technical 
     Assistance.--The Secretary may not use less than 5 percent or 
     more than 10 percent of amounts appropriated under subsection 
     (a) for each fiscal year to carry out section 4.
                                 ______