[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 30, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3312-H3314]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ENCOURAGING GREATER PUBLIC-PRIVATE SECTOR COLLABORATION TO PROMOTE
FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR STUDENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS.
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
resolution (H. Res. 327) encouraging greater public-private sector
collaboration to promote financial literacy for students and young
adults, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 327
Whereas personal financial literacy is essential to
ensuring that individuals are prepared to make informed
decisions about budgeting, financial planning, wealth
accumulation, higher education loans, 529 savings plans,
managing credit cards, and managing other debt;
Whereas often young people are ill-equipped to handle major
financial decisions in an increasingly complex financial
marketplace;
Whereas personal financial management skills begin to
develop during childhood;
Whereas, according to the report of the Girl Scout Research
Institute entitled ``Having it All: Girls and Financial
Literacy'', only 12 percent of girls feel very confident
about making financial decisions;
Whereas the move away from traditional pensions and toward
defined contribution plans requires more financial education,
so workers need to be equipped with the financial aptitude to
not only save and accumulate assets, but also to turn those
assets into lifetime income;
Whereas the Council for Economic Education found that only
22 States require high schools to offer some type of personal
finance course and only 17 States require that course for
high school graduation;
Whereas a longitudinal research study by the University of
Arizona found that high school and college students who have
been exposed to ongoing financial education show an increase
in financial knowledge;
Whereas the 2015 National Financial Capability Study,
developed in consultation with the Department of the Treasury
and President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability,
updates key measures from the 2009 National Financial
Capability Study of American adults and deepens the
exploration of topics that are highly relevant today,
including student loans and medical debt;
Whereas the Federal Reserve System offers publications in
English and Spanish that provide consumers tips on a broad
range of topics, from avoiding mortgage foreclosure scams to
managing a checking account;
Whereas a study conducted by Daniel Fernandes, John G.
Lynch, Jr., and Richard Netemeyer entitled ``Financial
Literacy, Financial Education and Downstream Financial
Behaviors'' found that it ``is best to provide assistance
just before a decision is made in what is known as `just-in-
time education' ''; and
Whereas on September 6, 2018, the U.S. House of
Representatives passed, by a vote of 406 to 4, H.R. 1635, the
Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling
Act, which helps improve financial aid counseling for
students receiving a Pell Grant or a Federal loan: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) emphasizes the importance of raising awareness of
individual financial capability by providing relevant
information, financial workshops, and other decision-making
tools to consumers of all ages;
(2) supports the efforts of Federal financial agencies to
partner with organizations that are focused on developing
opportunities for minorities and women to place talented
young minorities and women in industry internships, summer
employment, and full-time positions;
(3) supports the efforts of the Federal financial agencies
to provide consumers with relevant information and decision-
making tools regarding important financial decisions; and
(4) urges the Department of the Treasury to consult with
the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and implement
future national financial capability studies.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Foster) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.
General Leave
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Illinois?
There was no objection.
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 327, a bipartisan
resolution we introduced in April in honor of Financial Literacy Month.
I would like to start by thanking my friend Congressman French Hill
from Arkansas, who should truly be considered as an original cosponsor
of this resolution for working on this legislation with me.
The aim of this resolution is simple but important. It encourages
collaboration between the public and private sector to promote
financial literacy for students. It emphasizes the importance of
financial literacy for consumers of all ages, and it supports efforts
of Federal agencies to expand financial education resources.
This year alone, approximately 15.1 million students will be in
grades 9 through 12 and almost 20 million students will be enrolled in
colleges and universities.
That is a lot of young people who will soon be entering a complex
financial marketplace where they will have to quickly make important
financial decisions. These include decisions about paying for college,
credit cards, financing a car or a home purchase, preparing for
unexpected emergencies, and saving for retirement.
However, without an understanding of basic financial concepts, these
young people will not be well equipped to make these decisions.
At a time when student loan balances stand at $1.5 trillion and a
majority of private workers have access to defined contribution plans
and not traditional pension benefits, it is even more important for
young people and workers to be financially literate.
Part of the problem is that too few schools incorporate financial
education into their curriculum. According to the Council for Economic
Education, only a third of States require high school students to take
a course in personal finance. In those States, most schools teach the
subject as one portion of another course of study--such as math,
economics, or social studies--while only five States require a
semester-long, standalone personal finance course.
Studies show that financial illiteracy carries significant cost.
Consumers who fail to understand the concept of
[[Page H3313]]
compound interest spend more on transaction fees, run up bigger debts,
and incur higher interest rates on loans.
We also need to work on making financial literacy tools available for
everyone. Unfortunately, levels of financial literacy are lower among
the less educated minorities and women.
Just 19 percent of high school graduates possess basic financial
knowledge and skills. Perhaps even more troubling, according to a
survey by the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning
Association, 21 percent of respondents, including 38 percent of those
with income below $25,000, reported that winning the lottery was ``the
most practical strategy for accumulating several hundred thousand
dollars for their own retirement.''
This is a tragedy in the making, and we can do better.
While Americans are not expected to manage their own legal cases or
medical conditions, they are expected to manage their own finances.
We teach our children to wear seat belts. We teach them to say no to
drugs. We should also be teaching them the financial literacy skills
that they will need to successfully navigate the financial marketplace.
We want to give young people and all consumers the tools they need to
survive. One of the ways in which we can do that is by having Federal
agencies partner with schools, local and State governments, workplaces,
community organizations, nonprofits, and financial service providers.
Whether it is giving students immersive opportunities to see how
money and banking work in the real world or helping train and equip
teachers with the curriculum and materials they need to succeed in the
classroom, Federal agencies should be bold and innovative in their
approaches and leverage the ways in which technology can be used to
further these laudable goals.
We cannot afford to have future generations of Americans grow up
without learning these fundamental skills. For that reason, I urge all
my colleagues to support this resolution.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
I thank Madam Speaker for the opportunity to speak on this important
resolution, H. Res. 327, and I want to thank my good friend from
Illinois, Dr. Foster, for his passion on this measure to benefit,
particularly, the young people in this country.
Certainly, as the most prominent Ph.D. in the House of
Representatives and a pioneering entrepreneur, he knows the value of
financial literacy.
And I am proud, as a former community banker and investment manager,
somebody who dealt with families, their kids, and older Americans for
30 years in finance, to partner on this very important promotion of
financial literacy for students and young adults.
It is wonderful that it is a bipartisan effort by our committee.
And it is truly unfortunate, Madam Speaker, that only 25 States
require high school students to take a financial literacy class in
order to graduate. As a result, many children and adolescents grow into
adults who don't know how to properly save, spend, and budget.
I am proud that Arkansas is one of those 25 States, Madam Speaker, as
we enacted our requirement back in 2005. But, going back even further
to 1962, Arkansas, through the leadership of Bessie Moore, a remarkable
educator in our State, created something called Economics Arkansas,
which, every summer, puts on financial literacy training for all of our
teachers, K through 12, so that they understand to put financial
literacy in all the classrooms.
It was a lot of fun last week when we were in the district to go to
Robinson Senior High School in Little Rock and see them compete for the
Stock Market Game, which is a major component in financial literacy
training, through Economics Arkansas.
{time} 1230
So not everyone, every student is as lucky as an Arkansan, because
two-thirds of Americans can't pass a financial literacy test, Madam
Speaker. Forty-four percent do not have enough savings to cover a $400
emergency, and 33 percent have not saved for their retirement.
Financial illiteracy has broader economic costs, higher debt, limited
savings. For many, this limits their homeownership. This means they
don't have a stable retirement. And for many of our young adults, this
critical knowledge creates the burden that we have seen in student loan
lending in this country where families are not treating higher
education debt as seriously as they treat buying that first house.
Why is that, Madam Speaker? It is because of the lack, in my view, of
financial literacy at the high school level, at our admissions offices
in colleges, and that is why it was terrific, bipartisan, that this
time last year in the last Congress, in September, we passed, with over
400 votes in this House, a measure that requires financial literacy
training for students seeking a student loan, for students accepting a
Pell grant. That is the kind of good work that this House has been
doing.
I want to again thank my friend, Mr. Foster, for his work. As we
close Financial Literacy Month, I can't think of a better topic, and I
can't think of a better friend to share that work with.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. David Scott).
Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding me this time.
The first thing I want to say is thank you to Mr. Foster and thank
you to Mr. Hill for providing sterling, bipartisan leadership on this,
Madam Speaker, what I feel is one of the most pressing needs facing our
Nation today, and that is to equip our young people with the financial
education, the financial acumen of navigating what is becoming even a
greater, more complex financial system.
Madam Speaker, let me just bring this glaring statistic to drive home
this point to you, the Congress, and the American people.
According to the Council for Economic Education, just 17 States out
of the 50 States of our great Nation require students to take even one
course in personal finance. Just 22 States require high school students
to take a course in just basic economics, and then that course is
interloped into others and not even in and of itself.
Yet the financial decisions that our young people are asked to make
are immense, carrying lifelong consequences to consider in the
decision, first of all, of whether to go to college or not, how to go
to college, how to pay for it, and how to pay for the increasing costly
debt for this college education.
Consider the challenges that can come from balancing a starting or
beginning wage against the student loan debt or saving for retirement.
Or consider many of the basic kitchen table choices that families must
make each and every day to put food on the table, to buy or not to buy
an automobile, just the simple electricity bill. They would have to
make definite choices.
Consider the advantages that are afforded to consumers who do have
access to credit, how important that is. How do you acquire that
access, and how do you maintain that access for credit?
We are, indeed, a financial consumer economy, but we are basically a
credit-based economy, and our young people must gravitate and be able
to grapple with this in a responsible way.
In our increasingly complex financial marketplace, the value of
financial education has never been higher. Personal education is badly
needed.
To reduce debt, we would look at the debt that so many of our young
people start out with year after year even finishing college. How do
you manage that? How do you make those choices?
Financial literacy is the key to financial security not just of the
individual, because if we don't have financial security for the people
of our Nation, we don't have financial security for the future of this
great Nation. That is why this is one of the most important issues that
this Congress faces today.
I am so proud to join with my Republican friend and my Democratic
friend in showing the bipartisan way that we must go to solve this
problem and make sure that this generation and every generation coming
after them have the best financial education.
[[Page H3314]]
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close. I have
no other speakers on this important matter.
I just want to continue to thank my colleagues on the other side of
the aisle and our lead sponsor, Dr. Foster, for his thoughtful
elevation of the importance of financial literacy for all of our
students and their families.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I would like to again thank my colleague, Congressman Hill, for his
assistance in support of this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to
join us in supporting this important resolution to show Congress'
commitment to ensuring our Nation's students have the essential
financial literacy skills they need to thrive and excel in today's
economy.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster) that the House suspend the rules
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 327, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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