[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4156-4160]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE FUTURE FORUM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of 
the Future Forum to provide an update on our past year's work and 
activity and to discuss the work we must still do to move America's 
millennials forward.
  Yesterday, April 12, marked the 1-year anniversary of Future Forum, 
and what a year it has been. I encourage everyone at home to follow 
along as we talk about these issues this afternoon at #futureforum on 
Twitter or Instagram and Facebook. Send us your questions. I will look 
at them live here on the floor and talk about them and continue the 
dialog beyond today's conversation.
  Our membership has grown from 14 members a year ago when we started, 
to 18 of the House's youngest Members. We have traveled to 14 cities 
now across this great Nation, from San Diego, California, to 
Manchester, New Hampshire, and to, most recently, last week, hosted by 
Representatives DeGette, Polis, and Perlmutter, Denver. We were even 
joined there in Denver by our House Minority whip, Steny Hoyer.
  On each visit we talk to young people at universities, community 
colleges, coworking spaces, and startup companies, to learn about the 
issues most important to them, the issues that they are finding as 
their own personal barriers to success.
  Overwhelmingly, we have heard millennials across the Nation share 
that they are most concerned about issues relating to student loan 
debt, college affordability, climate change, and campaign finance 
reform. I want to talk about a few of these issues, and I first start 
with student loan debt.
  At many of these sites with a polling app we ask people: What issue 
is most important to you? Across the country, the issue that we have 
seen most often, regardless of what part of the country we are in, what 
crowd we are in front of, has been student loan debt.
  Now, this is an issue that is very personal to me. I just brought my 
own student loan debt just under $100,000 within the last few months; 
and I have seen, in my own life, in my constituents' lives in 
California's East Bay and with the people we have talked to at these 
Future Forum discussions, that student loan debt has put an entire 
generation into financial quicksand, and it affects almost every life 
decision that young people are making.
  The biggest decisions you will make in your life: the decision to 
start a family, we are delaying that decision by about 5 years later 
than the generation before us; the ability to buy a house, we are 
perhaps the least home-owning generation America has ever known; the 
decision and the ability to go out on your own and start your own 
business--well, actually, millennial entrepreneurship is on the 
decline. From 2014 to 2015, 5 percent fewer millennials started a 
business.
  How is that?
  You look at Silicon Valley, you look at Silicon Alley, you look at 
Silicon Beach, you look up in the Northwest at Silicon Forest, you see 
all of these startups across our country and you think, well, this is 
the startup generation.
  In fact, we are more risk averse than you would think. It is because 
of the student loan debt that we carry that makes it so hard to go out 
on your own to find that capital you need to take that risk to start a 
business to create jobs that will help grow our economy.
  These are the four issues we are seeing that student loan debt is 
affecting: starting a family, buying a home, starting a business, and 
then, finally, being able to save.
  We are also the generation that has saved the least of any generation 
that has ever come before us. And it makes sense, right?
  Every month, you have approximately 40 million young people, with 
$1.3 trillion in student loan debt, hundreds of dollars each month 
going out the window, going to pay off this debt, making it very hard 
for you to rent near where you work, let alone even realize that 
American Dream of homeownership.
  Now, while higher education also remains a worthwhile investment, we 
have found on our tour that, by 2018, 63 percent of new jobs will 
require a college education. But here is the problem. The cost of 
college continues to go up.
  One of our biggest challenges, perhaps, is making and having 
generations that have come before us understand that what they 
experienced 30, 40 years ago, is just not what young people are going 
through today. It is apples and oranges in terms of experiences. In 
fact, the cost of college tuition has gone up higher and faster than 
any other good or service that Americans consume.
  In California, for example, in the sixties and seventies, if you were 
qualified and you were able, you could go to a UC--University of 
California--school and walk away with, essentially, a debt-free 
education.
  The return on that investment, when Californians and the Federal 
Government valued public education as a public good, was a workforce 
that built the greatest tech and biotech economy that the world has 
ever seen. The tech economy that drives northern California, the 
biotech economy that is thriving down in San Diego, the minds that are 
powering the inventive forces in the entertainment industry down in Los 
Angeles, that is the return on investment that we received when we 
treated education as a public good in California, and you could have an 
UC degree and walk away with a debt-free education.
  Now, an issue that is also important to millennials and new to Future 
Forum and affecting young Americans is the issue of diversity in the 
tech industry.

                              {time}  1545

  We love the tech industry in California. It has created so many new 
jobs and a lot of traffic to go with it, but people who are driving to 
good-paying jobs.
  Silicon Valley in the bay area is at the helm of America's burgeoning 
tech industry, which is constantly developing innovative ways to 
interact within a global environment and compete in the 21st century. 
These cutting-edge companies are creating new ways to communicate, 
travel, buy, sell, and listen.
  The tech industry is led by some of the best and the brightest our 
Nation has to offer. But there are some statistics about the tech 
industry I want to share with you that are quite disturbing. The tech 
industry is not as diverse as California or our country is.
  Millennials are at the center of this industry. They are the largest 
generation in the U.S. workforce. By 2020, millennials will make up 50 
percent of the global workforce.
  However, over the past 2 to 3 years, major concerns have been raised 
that tech lacks one major component. We are the largest workforce 
America has ever known, and we are the largest and most diverse 
generation America has ever known, but the tech industry is missing a 
diverse workforce.
  Despite making up significant portions of the U.S. population, women 
and minorities are drastically underrepresented in this industry. Let 
me give you an example.
  In the United States, women compose 50.8 percent of our population. 
However, women only make up about one-third of the tech workforce.
  Ethnic diversity in tech tells a similar story. Eight percent of the 
tech workforce is Hispanic, 7 percent is African American, 23 percent 
is Asian, and 60 percent is White.
  How can we resolve this? Many tech firms have made great strides 
toward improving workforce gender and ethnic diversity by releasing 
workforce data and creating internal programs to address this 
disparity.

[[Page 4157]]

  However, action must continue to be taken every single day to address 
the root of the problem, like improving access to STEM education. The 
tech industry also needs to seriously examine recruitment measures in 
order to encourage a more diverse workforce.
  I recently introduced the STEM K to Career Act. This bill would 
provide Federal loan forgiveness for STEM teachers in low-income 
schools, create a tax credit for paid STEM internships and 
apprenticeships, and ensure that 7 percent of Federal Work Study funds 
are used for STEM jobs.
  This would help make sure that every corner in America, every 
classroom across our country, is treated equally and receives the same 
amount of funding for STEM and make sure that every child has that 
freedom to dream.
  I am also a cosponsor of Representative Rick Larsen of Washington's 
Youth Access to American Jobs Act, which will connect students to 
training in STEM skill positions to prepare them for well-paying jobs. 
Just last month I signed a letter urging for an increase in Federal 
support of Hispanic-serving institutions.
  Someone in the House who has worked on this issue who is my neighbor 
in the east bay and someone I have been proud to serve with is 
Congresswoman Barbara Lee. I would like to welcome my distinguished 
colleague to add to this discussion.
  I will start, Congresswoman, by asking: This is an industry that has 
expanded beyond just San Francisco and Silicon Valley. We are seeing 
major investments put into Oakland and also out in the tri-valley.
  What are you hearing back in the bay at home, outside of that 
Warriors fever--because tonight they are going to set the NBA's single-
season wins record--but outside of that fever, what are we hearing at 
home about the tech industry and what we can do better?
  Ms. LEE. First of all, I thank the gentleman so much for his 
tremendous leadership in Future Forum. I want to thank him also for 
really stepping up since he has been here in Congress not only in 
showing dedication and phenomenal representation for his constituents, 
but, also, he has shown such a tremendous ability to organize his peers 
and to really focus on the issues that really give our young people, 
the millennials, a hope that they can actually achieve the American 
Dream. So I thank the gentleman very much.
  I am really proud to share our region with Congressman Swalwell. I 
want to first congratulate him also because I think today is the 
anniversary of Future Forum. One year?
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. That is right. One year.
  Ms. LEE. The gentleman is doing such critical work to make college 
affordable and debt free and to really provide opportunities for our 
young people and our millennials. So I thank the gentleman.
  We represent the east bay, as we have said. For years now, this is 
nothing new to us. I have my office full of cases that go back, 
actually, 10 years of qualified people of color who wanted to work in 
the tech sector and never could get in the door.
  Let me also say that 40, 50 percent of the jobs in the tech sector 
are non-tech-related. They are human resources attorneys, lawyers, jobs 
that many people of color qualify for and still they have been shut out 
from these opportunities. So this is an important issue to talk about.
  Tech is making a home for itself in my district and your district, 
and it is creating new jobs.
  Unfortunately, too many of my African American and Latino 
constituents have been locked out of these opportunities for years, 
which have been created by the region's booming sector.
  Believe you me, it is not unique to your district or my district. It 
is a systemic problem that we need to address across the country.
  When major tech firms have released workforce data--and, mind you, 
many have not--we have seen that, at some firms, employees that are 
African American can make up as much as 7 percent of the workforce. At 
other firms, this can be below zero percent.
  I don't know how you get below zero percent, but some don't even 
think about it, despite the fact that African Americans, for example, 
make up 14 percent of the American population.
  So that is why I am really honored to serve with our Congressional 
Black Caucus chair, Chairman Butterfield, as his co-chair of the CBC 
Diversity Task Force.
  In May of last year, our task force launched the TECH 2020 initiative 
to increase diversity and inclusion in the tech sector by 2020, 
specifically as it relates to African American diversity.
  Let me just take a moment to thank Reverend Jesse Jackson and Rainbow 
PUSH because they have been for several years now really making sure 
these companies commit to releasing their data and coming up with a 
plan to address inclusion and diversity.
  The core principles of TECH 2020 initiative let me lay out very 
quickly. T, transparency; education and training; corporate 
responsibility and investment; hiring and retention.
  Transparency means ensuring that companies set and achieve inclusion 
goals, release their data annually, and put this information in a 
central location for the public to access.
  Education and training, STEM education, commitment to long-term STEM 
investments, working with minority-serving institutions, Hispanic-
serving institutions, HBCUs, and advancing public and private 
investment in education.
  Corporate responsibility and investment means working to increase 
board of director diversity. When you look at the boards, you don't see 
much inclusion at all in diversity.
  We have to target philanthropic investments, expand venture capital 
to diverse ideas, to new, young ideas, seek out diversity in the 
supplier area and helping young, millennial small businesses grow.
  The last principle, hiring and retention, means encouraging companies 
to provide specific programs, goals, and timetables focused on 
inclusion and recruit from minority-serving institutions and invest in 
African American and Latino employees.
  The TECH 2020 initiative--we have taken these principles on the road 
to the boardrooms of some of the biggest names in the tech sector.
  So I am pleased that we are continuing this conversation tonight with 
the head of Future Forum because this really is about the future.
  In our district, we have many, many young people, many young African 
American young men and women, who are working on coding, 
BlackGirlsCode.
  When you look at some of the investments that the Kapor Institute, 
Mitch and Freada Kapor, have made in terms of investments in firms that 
require inclusion in STEM education, it is really phenomenal.
  We have seen companies add highly qualified people of color, business 
leaders, to their board of directors, not enough, only a couple, but we 
are going to continue to work to develop and implement and, most 
importantly, disclose their diversity and their inclusion plans.
  We have also made progress in gaining commitments to investments in 
science, technology, engineering, and math--of course, the STEM 
pipeline--to help educate and create the next generation of coders, 
innovators, and tech leaders.
  Last year I was proud to lead a letter--and it was cosigned by 67 of 
our colleagues--to support the President's Computer Science for All 
Initiative, which will ensure that every student from preschool to 
grade 12 will be able to learn how to code.
  This initiative specifically focuses on girls and students of color 
and will help us close the achievement gap in STEM education.
  These are all steps in the right direction, but we can and we must do 
more. America has become more and more diverse. Increasing diversity 
and inclusion within the tech sector really is not only a moral 
imperative, it is an economic imperative.
  As a former businessowner myself, I can tell you that diversity is 
really good for business. It is good for the bottom line. When you have 
a diverse and dynamic employee base, new doors of opportunity open.

[[Page 4158]]

  So I am very pleased to be helping to lead this effort with our chair 
of the Black Caucus, Mr. Butterfield, and other colleagues and yourself 
to achieve parity in the tech sector.
  I also look forward to working with Future Forum in addressing these 
critical issues as we move forward with Future Forum in terms of the 
next generation of leaders.
  Young people are concerned about student loan debt, college 
affordability, and climate change, all the issues that really create a 
planet worthy of the future of our young people.
  As future members of the modern workforce, they are also concerned 
about equity. So I have to commend the gentleman once again in Future 
Forum for his vision and his efforts to engage and empower our future 
leaders.
  I know that together we can and we will achieve a future where people 
of color, African Americans and Latinos, are fully represented within 
every level of the tech sector, from entry-level coders and H.R. 
representatives, legal professionals, C-suite officers, and corporate 
directors.
  Finally, let me say that one effort that some of the companies are 
mounting, which I think you know about, which we need to talk a little 
bit more about in the future and Future Forum should look at, are the 
unconscious bias studies that these companies are undertaking.
  Because oftentimes it is the culture of the organization and 
unconscious biases that translate into policies and programs that 
create a discriminatory effect which, in fact, need to be addressed and 
dealt with, and they are so unconscious that people don't even realize 
that this is the ultimate outcome of those unconscious biases.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Do you think that shining a light on 
workforce data is probably one of the best ways to kind of reverse an 
unconscious bias, that unless you are forced to look at the numbers and 
the behaviors of your company, you are not going to make a change that 
results in having a diverse workforce?
  Ms. LEE. Yes. Absolutely. If you don't have the facts, if you don't 
have the data, how do you know, first of all, that there is an issue 
and a problem of exclusion?
  Secondly, oftentimes people hire people and work with people whom 
they are familiar with. There are some systemic issues that, unless you 
have the data, you don't know what these systemic issues are.
  So that is absolutely essential. That is why we continue to ask tech 
companies to release their data and to really be transparent.
  So you have to know what the issues are and what the problem is 
before you can look at how to rectify it and how to move forward.
  So I think that many employees and many corporate officials want to 
do the right thing. They just have not done the right thing, and they 
are trying to begin to understand what to do next.
  So Future Forum, the Congressional Black Caucus, our Tri-Caucus, all 
of us here, our Dem Caucus, have really been working hard to try to get 
this movement forward.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. In your district, you have one of the 
best universities in the world, UC-Berkeley, and we have heard on our 
Future Forum's tour from young students who are either right out of 
college or about to be out of college that the amount of debt they have 
is driving the decision about where to work, that a lot of times their 
choices are limited to where their parents live because they know they 
can't afford to live in the bay area. So they are going to have to 
boomerang back home with their parents who have just gotten used to 
their being out of the house.
  So what have you heard from the students or the recent graduates in 
your area about how student loan debt is affecting major life 
decisions?
  Ms. LEE. Student loan debt really is hampering our young people from 
moving forward. They are concerned mainly about how to get a job that 
is going to pay enough money to pay down their debt when, really, they 
should be looking at how to move forward and get the type of job they 
want, buy a home if they want, have a family or do some of the things 
that their dreams have been in their minds, in their vision, and in 
their heart for years. Now their dreams are deferred because they have 
to just hang on with their families and pay student loan debt.
  Secondly, in our area, the cost of housing is outrageous. We met with 
the Secretary of HUD last week to try to determine what the Federal 
Government could do to help with, first, displacement and, secondly, to 
help develop more affordable housing, which, of course, will help young 
people because they can't afford to live now in the east bay or in the 
bay area, really.
  Our region is just excessively expensive, and we have to figure out 
how young people can stay where they want to stay and how they can have 
the type of life they deserve.
  They have gotten a degree. I went to UC-Berkeley. That is my alma 
mater--go Bears--and I know what a phenomenal education it is.
  But I also know, when you get out, you think that that degree, that 
piece of paper, is a ticket to something better, and here you end up 
having to go back home, live with your parents, and pay down your 
student debt. That is outrageous. It doesn't make any sense. Our young 
people deserve more.

                              {time}  1600

  Mr. SWALWELL of California. That is right. A lot of times I have told 
young people our generation is the least home-owning generation America 
has ever known. In the bay area and the L.A. area, they say: Forget 
home owning. We just want to be able to rent near where we live.
  Right now, rents are so expensive. Oakland now ranks in the top five 
most expensive rent cities.
  Ms. LEE. I think it is the fourth in the country.
  It is outrageous. Homeownership is not even a dream anymore that 
young people have.
  How do you acquire wealth in this country?
  When you look at what happened to African Americans, for example, and 
Latinos during the subprime meltdown and crisis, our net worth is gone. 
Most of that was equity in our home.
  Young people deserve to be able to buy a house so they can begin to 
acquire some wealth, so they can begin to do what they want to do with 
their lives. Until we get this housing piece right, we are not going to 
get anything else right in terms of inequality and equity for our young 
people or for people of color.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. That is right. As we talk to young people 
and we listen to these stories across the country, it is heartening, 
though, to offer solutions. I know you are a part of many of the 
solutions that the Future Forum has been promoting.
  One of them is the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing bill--
it is Joe Courtney's bill, our colleague--which says that if the banks 
can refinance at the lowest rate, if a homeowner can refinance at the 
lowest rate, and an auto loan can be refinanced at the lowest rate, why 
can't our students refinance at the lowest rate? Why should they have 
to pay so much money in interest and not get more competitive rates?
  Ms. LEE. There is no reason why. Here you have young people starting 
out making a life for themselves. They should be able to do the same 
thing. The banking institutions should allow young people the same 
opportunities as they do other people who own mortgages and who own 
cars. This, to me, is discriminatory.
  I am really pleased to be a cosponsor of the bill. I hope we can pass 
this on a bipartisan basis. I would give young people just a bit of 
hope that it can be done, that they can be made whole, and that their 
college education, the sacrifices that they made, was worth it because 
now they are going to the next step.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. That is right. In the bay area, young 
people are so collaborative and inventive that they have powered this 
innovative innovation economy. Then they look at Washington and they 
wonder, why isn't the majority party in the House collaborating on 
these student loan bills?

[[Page 4159]]

  If you look at every student loan bill that is out there right now, I 
think 9 out of 10 of them have been offered by our side. This is an 
issue that should not be owned by a political party. People are hurting 
out there.
  Ms. LEE. Republican young people are hurting also. I would think that 
the majority party would want to help their young people also find a 
path to the American Dream. Certainly refinancing student loan debt is 
a major step. It should be bipartisan, it should be nonpartisan, and we 
should be working together to get this passed.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. I don't know if you have any constituents 
who are in bankruptcy because of student loan debt, but we found that 
three things in this country will follow you to your grave and have no 
statute of limitations: murder, treason, and student loan debt.
  We have constituents who have had their Social Security garnished 
because of outstanding student loan debt and people who cannot 
discharge as they get that second chance in life, that jubilee that 
bankruptcy is, they can't discharge their student loan debt. It hangs 
over them until they go to the grave.
  Ms. LEE. Many constituents are in very similar circumstances, 
Congressman Swalwell. On top of that, their credit score goes down, so 
then they can't even buy a car, even if they wanted to. They are not 
able to do anything else because they are delayed on their payments. 
They are behind because they can't afford it. They get dings on their 
credit score, and then they can't buy anything else on credit. It is a 
vicious cycle. They end up in debt and out there not being able to 
participate in the mainstream economic fabric of our society because of 
that.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. That is right. Another bill we have to 
support that is the Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act, 
offered by Congressman Cohen of Tennessee, who seeks to address this 
issue and relieve young people from having to have this follow them for 
a lifetime.
  Congresswoman, I am glad you came to join us to talk about diversity 
in tech and about larger Future Forum goals. I look forward to 
continuing to work with you in the east bay and across our country to 
take as many young people as we can out of financial quicksand.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Swalwell, and I thank him for his 
leadership. I am confident we can with his leadership and with all of 
us working together.
  I know that both Democrats and Republicans want the same thing, I am 
confident of that, but we are just not matching our rhetoric with 
reality. Hopefully they will begin to understand, the majority will, 
that this is good for America, not just for Democrats and not just for 
our young people.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. That is right. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. 
Lee.
  I also see in the House with us this afternoon is another California 
colleague, someone who I was hoping maybe could talk a little bit about 
what students in her part of California are going through, one of the 
youngest Members of the House as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. 
Torres).
  Congresswoman, we are just talking about student loan debt. In 
California, we have got the greatest education system in the world, but 
because of the amount of student loan debt young people are facing, it 
is just putting them, as I said, in financial quicksand. We have got a 
lot of solutions here in the House.
  Is there anything you are hearing in your Congressional District from 
young people and what they want to see from their leaders?
  Mrs. TORRES. Absolutely. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Swalwell for 
bringing this topic to the forefront.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. We are celebrating a year of the Future 
Forum tonight.
  Mrs. TORRES. One year. That is wonderful.
  This issue is not limited to the students. At a Congress in Your 
Corner last November, I heard from parents of a constituent who were 
nearly in bankruptcy because the student loan from not one child, but 
two, was so much that it was actually more than their mortgage payment. 
So here they are working in their late 60s to try to help make payments 
for their students.
  This is a critical issue. They are not able to purchase a vehicle and 
they are not able to purchase a home. I bought my home in my early 20s. 
I know that 20-year-olds today, or 23-year-olds today, could not do 
that because of the high student loan ratios that they have.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. That is right. I call it getting lapped, 
which is we are seeing parents today who are still paying off their 
student loans, then their kids are going off to college, and now they 
are doubling down. It has become a family matter.
  We talked on a Future Forum tour to a mother who showed up to an 
event that had 200 millennials in Boston. She kind of sheepishly raised 
her hand and said: I know I am not supposed to be here, but I am here 
because I am worried about my daughter. She was the first in our family 
to go to college. We were really excited. We sent her off and we missed 
her dearly for that first year she was gone. We got used to her being 
gone in years two, three, and four. We never expected that she would 
boomerang back home because she couldn't afford to live near where she 
works.
  This was at the same time that this mother's own mother was going 
into a costly assisted living facility. It is a family matter. It is 
squeezing baby boomers right now because their kids are incurring 
student loan debt and their parents are taking on costly assisted 
living. So you are right.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Torres for sharing what is going on in her 
area.
  Maybe my other colleague, another one of California's millennial-
minded Members down in the L.A. area, Tony Cardenas, what is he hearing 
as we celebrate a year of being on the road with Future Forum and 
talking to thousands of young people? What is he hearing about student 
loan debt or any issues that are important to millennials?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardenas).
  Mr. CARDENAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Swalwell for bringing this 
issue to the floor. It is incredibly important not just for 
millennials, but as our colleague, Norma Torres, pointed out, for 
people who are at retirement age, people who want to retire but can't 
because they have these generational issues that are costly and they 
can't move on and then follow through with their version of the 
American Dream in different phases of their life.
  What I am hearing is that this is not just an issue of young people 
who are in college. This is an issue of entire families wondering 
whether or not their children can afford to do that and whether the 
family can come together for that bright individual who wants to 
succeed and wants to get that education, and yet they are doubting 
themselves as to whether or not that is the path for them.
  That is unfortunate because the fact of the matter is that the United 
States of America for many, many generations has been the place for 
hope and expectation of a brighter future for generations. Yet, at the 
same time, because, in my opinion, Congress is not doing enough to make 
sure that we can right the situation, we can make sure that we can 
right size the environment of making sure that when a young bright 
person in America wants to get an education, that there are ways in 
which they can afford to do that, regardless of where they come from, 
regardless of whether their parents are farm workers, like my parents, 
or whether their parents live on the other side of town where they can 
afford to do that.
  Our environments and the universities shouldn't be left only to the 
individuals who have the affluency to be able to be in that 
environment. One of the reasons why we have created these wonderful 
universities that have 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, and 30,000 people there 
is so that they can be an eclectic environment, so people can learn to 
become friends with people that otherwise they might not have rubbed 
elbows with.
  What I am hearing is that people are afraid. Too many Americans are 
afraid.

[[Page 4160]]

I am hearing that too many bright individuals are doubting whether or 
not they can afford to get that degree, not that they can't do it, not 
that they are not bright enough.
  The problem that I am hearing from my constituents and people around 
America is that it is tough to make that decision because too many 
young people now have examples that they are in debt $100,000, 
$200,000, $300,000. And then on top of that, they can't find a right 
size job to fit their skill set. And then on top of that, they have got 
this mounting debt. That is something that too many people are afraid 
to enter into. That is unfortunate. It shouldn't happen in our country.
  I am glad that Mr. Swalwell is bringing this issue up. Let's continue 
to try to do many, many things about righting the ship that we have 
about our young people being too afraid to incur the kind of debt that 
they are forced to do in order to get an education.
  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Amen. Well said.
  I think young Californians, in my experience, want us to be as 
collaborative in solving this problem as they are in charting the 
innovation economy. You are right. Out of those environments in our UC 
and Cal State systems and our community colleges, we are creating minds 
and experiences that are building this new economy. So they look to us 
and say: Why aren't Democrats and Republicans working together?
  Right now, I see our caucus is the only one that is offering 
solutions. I think we are putting our hands out there saying: Work with 
us, we are ready to talk about this, but you have got to come to the 
table because Republican and Democratic kids across this country are in 
financial quicksand and are counting on us.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Cardenas and Mrs. Torres.
  That will conclude our one-year celebration of Future Forum. We are 
certainly not looking backwards. We are looking to the future. We have 
more visits ahead across the country, across California, and, of 
course, with my colleagues who have participated already.
  Continue this conversation with us at #FutureForum or, of course, 
follow @RepSwalwell on Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook.
  This generation is aspirational and optimistic. It just needs its 
leaders here in this House and the majority party, I think, to join 
with the Democrats to put forward solutions that can move our 
generation forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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