[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 20, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INTRODUCING THE INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE ACT

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                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 20, 2010

  Mr. STARK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Investing In 
Our Future Act. This bill will discourage currency speculation while 
investing in future generations here at home and in vulnerable 
communities around the world.
  The world's largest financial institutions regularly buy and sell 
world currencies for a quick profit. In fact, the global currency 
transaction market has a daily trading volume of $4 trillion. A 
significant amount of these trades are purely for speculative purposes. 
These speculative trades make wealthy individuals and companies even 
richer, but add no value to our economy. On the contrary, speculation 
distorts markets, increases market volatility, and destabilizes our 
economy.
  The Investing in Our Future Act will place a 0.005 percent tax on the 
trillions of dollars of currency trades that take place each day. The 
revenue generated would go into three separate trust funds: one to 
provide domestic long-term, sustainable funding for child care; another 
for global health funding; and a third trust fund for climate change 
mitigation in the developing world.
  A tax of 0.005 percent on all currency transactions is a trivial 
amount for those who engage in trades for legitimate purposes. One 
study estimated a worldwide tax on currency transactions involving the 
dollar would decrease currency speculation and shrink the volume of the 
market by 14 percent. This legislation would, in the words of the late 
Nobel laureate James Tobin who first proposed such a tax, ``throw some 
sand in the well-greased wheels'' of speculation.
  The imposition of a currency transaction tax is a minor inconvenience 
to a financial institution, but could represent a major step forward to 
meet and exceed our commitments to our children and to impoverished 
nations and communities.
  A Child Care Assistance Trust Fund will receive 20 percent of the 
revenue generated by this tax. In our own country only one in seven 
children eligible for subsidized childcare actually receives it. The 
fund will help working parents of the 15.3 million children under the 
age of six find affordable childcare.
  The Multilateral Global Health Trust Fund will receive 40 percent of 
the revenue generated by this tax. Dozens of poor countries lack the 
basic medical infrastructure to diagnose, treat, and prevent diseases 
like malaria and tuberculosis. With funding towards these major 
diseases in developing nations, we can save lives and eliminate the 
threat of many of these illnesses within a generation.
  The Global Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Trust Fund will 
receive the other 40 percent of funds generated by this tax. Climate 
change brings the side effects like hunger, poverty, and natural 
resource exhaustion to many developing countries. Conservative 
estimates are that $100 billion is needed annually to help developing 
countries adapt to climate change and this fund will bring much needed 
assistance to them.
  By contributing revenues from this bill towards these causes, we 
would be investing in the future of the residents of the developing 
world, and ours as well. I urge my colleagues to support the Investing 
in Our Future Act.

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