Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 455, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would like to express my strong support for House Resolution 874, a resolution recognizing and honoring older Americans. I would like to thank my friend and fellow Texan, Congressman Charlie Gonzalez, for bringing this resolution forward.

As the resolution so eloquently states, older Americans have made countless contributions that have strengthened our Nation. We are gradually bidding farewell to our Greatest Generation that fought for our freedom and values during the Great Depression and two world wars. We must never forget their strength of character and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good of our Nation and our world.

We are now welcoming the baby boom generation into the ranks of older Americans. This presents great challenges and great opportunities for our Nation. The challenge is to keep our intergenerational compact of Social Security and Medicare, not by privatization schemes or giveaways to special interests, but by prudent management and fiscal responsibility. We can meet that challenge.

We have the opportunity to leverage the tremendous talent, the energy, and desire to make a difference that older Americans bring to our communities. This generation of older Americans is healthier and more educated than any generation before it. Its best years are yet to come. Our older Americans continue to make valuable contributions to our society every day. We must not waste this invaluable national resource.

As we celebrate the contributions of older Americans today with this resolution, let us recommit ourselves to honoring them by completing the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act and supporting our Federal programs that improve the quality of life of older Americans and enable them to continue to contribute to their communities and to our great Nation.

I urge all my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to my good friend and colleague Charlie Gonzalez from San Antonio, who serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my colleague Danny Davis from the great State of Illinois, who serves on the Education Committee and the Government Reform Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, but I would like to make some closing remarks. I want to say that I had the pleasure of serving, together with Chairman Patrick Tiberi from Ohio, and together we led our committee through the effort of the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act.

It was of great satisfaction to me, because we were able to pass amendments and requests for an increase in authorization for this very important act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 6061, entitled the Secure Fence Act. This bill is almost the same bad legislation that was brought before us in the House this summer, but it is even worse because it contains no funding. It ignores real enforcement measures, like hiring more Border Patrol personnel, and instead builds a Berlin Wall on our southern border.

I was born and raised in south Texas on the Texas-Mexico border. We who live and work along the border are acutely aware that the immigration system is broken and that a complete overhaul is required to restore any semblance of order.

So long as employers need workers in this country, and while our immigration systems impede rather than facilitate timely access of willing workers to those opportunities, undocumented immigration will never be controlled. Walls, barriers, and military patrols will only force those immigrants to utilize ever more dangerous routes and increase the number of people who die in search of an opportunity to feed and clothe their families.

The answer to this issue is comprehensive immigration reform. Fix immigration systems and you are assured better border security. Trade is the lifeblood of the Mexico-U.S. border communities and of this Nation. In the Rio Grande Valley, thousands of people cross back and forth across the border daily to shop, to work, to get medical care, and to go to school. Fences will stifle that trade and destroy the economic gains border communities have made. The McAllen Chamber of Commerce says, and I quote, ``This bill is a 19th century solution to a 21st century problem. It is a waste of taxpayers' dollars.''

I participated in the sham hearings in Laredo, Texas, in August of 2006 that only allowed testimony from one side of the issue and are being used to justify this bill. Instead of wasting time with this legislation, this House should be participating in a conference with the Senate on legislation that has already passed.

The McAllen Hispanic Chamber of Commerce stands on the feelings that ``we don't need more fencing, we need a real solution. We need a bill that will protect our borders without a fence and consider possible solutions temporarily, legalizing undocumented people who are currently working in the United States, with certain homeland security provisions and allowing future workers to enter legally, reunite families, and provide worker protections.''

I urge my colleagues to oppose this misguided legislation, H.R. 6061, named the Secure Fence Act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of increasing the availability and affordability and quality of rural housing in the United States. It is a long time coming.

To move towards this goal, I have introduced two pieces of legislation. H.R. 5896, the Housing Assistance Council Authorization Act of 2006, authorizes $10 million for HAC in fiscal year 2007 and $15 million for fiscal years 2008 through 2012. This will enable the council to further improve housing conditions for the rural poor, particularly the poorest of the poor in the most rural places in the United States.

H.R. 6044, the Rural Housing and Economic Development Enhancement Act of 2006, authorizes $30 million for the RHED program in fiscal year 2007 and $40 million for fiscal years 2008 through 2012.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly encourage members of the Congressional Rural Housing Caucus and all of my other colleagues in the House of Representatives to cosponsor these bills.

I rise today in support of increasing the availability, affordability and quality of rural housing in the United States. It is a long time coming.

To move toward this goal, I have introduced two pieces of legislation.

H.R. 5896, the ``Housing Assistance Council Authorization Act of 2006'' authorizes $10 million for HAC in fiscal year 2007, and $15 million for fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2012. This will enable the Council to further improve housing conditions for the rural poor, particularly the poorest of the poor in the most rural places in the United States.

It will also enable ``HAC'' to offer additional services to public, nonprofit, and private organizations throughout the rural United States.

H.R. 6044, the ``Rural Housing and Economic Development Enhancement Act of 2006,'' authorizes $30 million for the RHED program in fiscal year 2007 and $40 million for fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2012.

These authorizations will help the program provide additional funding to increase and improve capacity building at the State and local level and support innovative housing and economic development activities in rural areas.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly encourage the members of the Congressional Rural Housing Caucus, and all my other colleagues in the House of Representatives, to cosponsor these bills.

They will both improve rural housing and the lives of our constituents in rural areas. I ask that letters of support and a copy of the bills be made a part of the Record.

Rural Housing

Development Corporation,

Provo, UT, August 14, 2006.

Hon. Ruben Hinojosa,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Congressman Hinojosa: Thank you for writing and

introducing H.R. 5896, which will authorize funding support

for the Housing Assistance Council (HAC). Our nonprofit

agency, Rural Housing Development Corporation, has worked

with the Housing Assistance Council for several years. HAC

helps local organizations such as ours build affordable

housing. Our experience with HAC has been tremendous as we

have received several SHOP awards since 1999. I have also

attended the last three housing conferences held by HAC every

other year in Washington, D.C. and appreciate the valuable

information and networking provided.

I also thank you for your outstanding leadership on housing

issues and your creation of the Congressional Rural Housing

Caucus.

Sincerely,

Brad Bishop,

Executive Director.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support the Conference Report for S. 250, legislation to reauthorize the Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act. This conference report is the product of an all too rare, bipartisan, good faith effort to pass real legislation that makes a difference in our communities across the Nation. This conference report also sends an important message to the President who has proposed to eliminate federal career and vocational education programs: These programs work and we are united in our support for them.

I am particularly pleased that this bill includes my amendment to encourage schools to develop individual graduation and career plans for students in career and technical education programs. Including graduation and career planning as an allowable activity under Perkins is one small step in addressing the pressing issue of our low graduation rates. These plans will help ensure that high school students graduate prepared for postsecondary education and the workplace.

Action is urgently needed to improve our high school graduation rates. The Manhattan Institute, the Harvard Civil Rights Project, and the Urban Institute have analyzed the data and come to the same conclusion--roughly 30 percent of all students who should be earning high school diplomas aren't. For African American and Hispanic students that number jumps to nearly 50 percent. Furthermore, only a fraction of students leaving our high schools are prepared for college. The Manhattan Institute found that nationally only 34 percent of students left high school prepared to enter a four-year college. Only 23 percent of African American students and only 20 percent of Hispanic students left high school prepared for college. We must mobilize our efforts across all of our education programs to turn this situation around. This legislation can be an important component of what I hope will be a national strategy to improve high schools.

I would also like to commend the House and Senate conferees for reaching an agreement to protect the integrity of the Tech Prep Program. This program has been tremendously successful in my district and across the State of Texas. Tech Prep programs have provided countless opportunities for our students to gain access to a rigorous academic curriculum, cutting edge technology, and college credit while still enrolled in high school.

I congratulate all of the members of the conference committee for their fine work, especially the committee chairmen and ranking members. This is legislation that we can all be proud to support.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment to help ensure equal access to our health care system. All too often a lack of education can limit the quality of life of an individual. This is especially true when considering issues that govern one's health and well being.

To change this fact, I am offering an amendment that would help ensure that all citizens would benefit from advances in our medical technology and new information. My amendment directs the national coordinator for the health information technology to increase information and medical resources for individuals with low literacy.

Passage of this amendment would create a new national priority for bridging the literacy gap in health care resources and assign responsibility of that goal to the new national coordinator.

The new priority is especially important in the race to cure diabetes. In my congressional district, over 100,000 individuals suffer from this disease. And while our Nation is constantly working to find new ways of combating diabetes, most of those inventions rely heavily on medical technology that requires its users to have a certain level of mathematical skills, access to the Internet, and in some cases, at a minimum, a high school level of literacy.

While at first these requirements may seem ordinary and readily available, in districts such as mine, this is all but impossible. It is impossible because a large number of citizens who suffer from diabetes are undereducated, or they are elderly and lack computer skills. In some cases they live in poverty.

Simply put, the most effective treatments for individuals with diabetes and other illnesses remain out of the reach of citizens who need it most. Due to the lack of focus and the creation of our technology, millions die each year.

Additionally, according to a study sponsored by the American Diabetes Association, an organization that has endorsed this amendment, our Nation pays over $100 billion a year in lost wages, lost productivity, emergency room visits and care.

A clear example of what is at risk if we fail to launch an aggressive effort geared at removing literacy barriers to health care information and technology can be witnessed in my own district's 41 percent diabetes mortality rate.

That means that due to health care literacy barriers, one in two citizens diagnosed with diabetes in my district will die from diabetes complications.

To help change this fact, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.

In my opinion, if the patient gives permission that that information be released, I have no problem with that.

If the gentleman will allow me to explain. I think that the intent of my amendment is to be able to acknowledge that there are people out there who can not get one of these new machines that we use now to measure the glucose, if I am a diabetic, and be able to take it and follow the instructions if they are limited English proficient, for example. In many cases, the lower the level of education attainment, the more difficult it is to use some of this modern equipment that is available in technology. And so the intent of Congress would be to address that group, regardless of the size, the percentage of people who need that extra assistance with the training necessary to use the modern equipment.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to hear Congresswoman Nancy Johnson's thoughts on being able to work with us on this amendment, because it is very important not only in South Texas, but throughout the country.

I thank the gentlewoman for accepting this amendment and working with me to eliminate the literacy barriers from our health care system.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I join colleagues in paying a well- deserved tribute to Tim Friedman who is retiring after 30 years of distinguished service to this Congress. As Assistant Manager of the House Democratic Cloakroom, Tim has had the heavy responsibility of ensuring not only that Members get to the floor on time to vote but that they know what they are voting for. His knowledge of the intricacies of the voting process and House procedures has been invaluable and he is leaving big shoes to fill.

Tim has also been responsible for supervising and mentoring the thousands of pages who spend a large part of their time working

in the Cloakroom. As a father, I know how hard it is to get a couple of teenagers to be responsible and do good work. I commend Tim's patience in handling the hundreds of teens who rotate through the Cloakroom each summer and school year.

A native of Lackawanna, New York, Tim came to Washington in 1976 and worked first as a Doorkeeper, guarding the privacy of Members and keeping the floor of this House secure. His talents were recognized and in 1982 he transferred to the House Sergeant at Arms where he continued his efforts to keep this House running in an efficient and productive manner. In 1995, Speaker of the House Thomas P. O'Neill appointed him to his current position of Assistant Manger of the House Democratic Cloakroom.

Tim, you will be sorely missed but I know that you and your wife Colleen are looking forward to a life of leisure in North Carolina. I know you will enjoy having the time to play all the golf you want. I played golf on your golf team at Andrews and had a barrel of fun. I will always remember your friendship! Good luck and thank you for all you have done for this institution.

Mr. Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 378 on July 18th I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained in meetings downtown with my constituents. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall 378 because I continue to believe the issue of what constitutes a marriage should be left to the states to determine. I also believe that we should not set a precedent by amending the constitution in a way that narrows the rights of individuals.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 9. The Voting Rights Act is one of our nation's most effective and essential civil rights laws.

Since enacted in 1965, this law has been reauthorized 4 times--each time with bipartisan support. Today, I hope that we will reaffirm our bipartisan, national commitment to voting rights for all Americans.

I would like to salute the efforts of Chairman Sensenbrenner and Ranking Member Conyers for their tireless efforts to produce a bipartisan reauthorization bill. The right to vote is for all Americans--it is not a partisan issue. I urge my colleagues to support the underlying bill and to reject any amendments that would weaken the protections afforded under the Voting Rights Act.

One amendment that would turn the clock back on voting rights is the Amendment being offered by Mr. King of Iowa that would strike Sec. 203 of the act, which provides language assistance for voters who need it. Striking this section is a strike to the heart of the Voting Rights Act allowing for discrimination against voters based on language. It is a backdoor attempt to reestablish a literacy test for voting.

Let us, together, pledge to fight barriers to voting. Let us say never again to the days of literacy tests, poll taxes, and intimidation and threats to voters.

Let us, together, ensure that minority communities will not have their votes diluted, costing them real representation in elected positions.

The Voting Rights Act protects our democracy. Its legacy of success is indisputable. In my own state of Texas, we went from 563 elected Hispanics in 1973 to 2,137 in 2005. The number of Hispanic elected to Congress from Texas doubled between 1984 and 2005. Yet these gains could be undone without the on-going protection of the Voting Rights Act.

The Voting Rights Act is about securing and protecting our democracy. I urge all of my colleagues to support the passage of H.R. 9 as it was reported out of committee.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 364, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Madam Speaker, recently, I held my Fifth Regional Leaders Issues Conference in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Over 140 of my constituents attended the conference, including elected officials, presidents of universities, educators, heads of chambers of commerce, and many other community leaders in the 15th District of Texas.

On Tuesday, June 13, 2006, I was honored to have Dr. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, give remarks to the conferees. He referenced data from the Survey of Consumers Finances, which is a triennial survey sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board.

The latest survey revealed some discouraging and alarming statistics: Households whose income placed them in the bottom fifth of the population were less likely than the average respondent to maintain a checking or savings account, and almost 25 percent of those families were unbanked compared to less than 10 percent of families in the other income levels.

According to the survey, reasons given for not having an account varied. Some respondents said they would not write enough checks to make having an account worthwhile; others were dissuaded by minimum balance requirements, or said that they did not have enough money to justify opening a bank account.

Chairman Bernanke noted that, in some cases, consumers lacked the knowledge about the services that banks offer, including deposit insurance, or even misunderstood the important role banks play in our economy. Chairman Bernanke went on to say that some of the general approaches to helping families of modest means build wealth and improve their economic well-being include community economic development, financial literacy, and other programs that encourage saving and investment.

As the cofounder and cochair of the Financial Economic Literacy Caucus, I was pleased by all the information he provided my constituents, and I am pleased with the efforts the Federal Reserve is undertaking to improve financial literacy rates across the United States. I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation for Chairman Bernanke taking time out of his very busy schedule to speak to my constituents.

It is my hope that the media will focus more attention on what the chairman and the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus members have to say with regard to financial education and literacy, instead of focusing solely on Chairman Bernanke's comments on the direction of interest rates. I find it odd that the media and some legislators have yet to realize that there is a correlation between the country's poor financial literacy rates and the actions the Federal Reserve has to take from time to time.

Madam Speaker, I include for the Record the remarks Chairman Bernanke gave before my Fifth Regional Leaders Issues Conference.

Remarks by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Federal Reserve Board, At the

Fifth Regional Issues Conference of the Fifteenth Congressional

District of Texas

Increasing Economic Opportunity: Challenges and Strategies

Washington, June 13, 2006.--I am pleased to be here to

discuss some strategies for helping families, particularly

lower-income families, improve their economic and financial

well-being. Families today face a financial marketplace that

is increasingly complex, with numerous products and service

providers from which to choose. Today I will touch on several

approaches for helping people of modest means take advantage

of these financial opportunities while managing the risks and

avoiding possible pitfalls.

Today's Financial Marketplace

Technological advances have dramatically transformed the

provision of financial products and services in recent years.

To cite just one example, the expanded use of computerized

credit-scoring models, by reducing the costs of making loans

and by increasing

the range of assets that lenders can sell on the secondary

market, has made possible the extension of credit to a larger

group of borrowers. Indeed, we have seen an increasingly wide

array of products being offered to consumers across a range

of incomes, leading to what has been called the

democratization of credit. Likewise, technological innovation

has enhanced financial services, such as banking services,

and increased the variety of financial products available to

savers.

The range of providers in consumer financial markets has

also increased, with the number of nonbank entities offering

credit and other financial services having risen particularly

quickly. For example, a recent study of alternative providers

of financial services found the number of nonbank check-

cashing establishments doubled in the United States between

1996 and 2001. Payday lending outlets, a source of credit

that was almost non-existent a decade ago, now number more

than 10,000. And data from the Survey of Consumers Finances,

a triennial survey sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board,

indicate that the share of households with a loan from a

finance company increased from 13 percent in 1992 to 25

percent in 2004.

Financial Challenges of Lower-Income Families

Despite the increased complexity of financial products and

the wider availability of credit in many forms, U.S.

households overall have been managing their personal finances

well. On average, debt burdens appear to be at manageable

levels, and delinquency rates on consumer loans and home

mortgages have been low. Measured relative to disposable

income, household net worth is at a fairly high level,

although still below the peak reached earlier this decade.

Families with low to moderate incomes, however, face

special financial challenges. These families generally have

less of a cushion to absorb unanticipated expenses or to deal

with adverse circumstances, such as the loss of employment or

a serious health problem. Results from the Survey of Consumer

Finances show that the median net worth for households in the

lowest income quintile--those whose income placed them in the

bottom fifth of the population--was only $7,500 in 2004, well

below the median for all survey respondents of $93,000. The

Survey data also indicate that households in the lowest

quintile were significantly less likely than the average

respondent to maintain a checking or savings account; almost

25 percent of those families were ``unbanked,'' compared to

less than 10 percent of families in the other income

quintiles. The reasons given for not having an account

varied: Some respondents said they would not write enough

checks to make having an account worthwhile, but others were

dissuaded by minimum balance requirements or said that they

did not have enough money to justify opening an account. In

some cases, a lack of knowledge about the services that banks

offer or even a distrust of banks is likely a factor.

The Survey also found that lower-income households are less

able than others to manage their debts. A greater fraction of

these households had debt-to-income ratios of 40 percent or

more or had a payment past due at least sixty days. The data

also reveal that only 40 percent of families in the lowest

quintile own a home, compared with a homeownership rate of 69

percent among all families surveyed. Finally, the data on

retirement account ownership show an even larger gap, with

only 10 percent of lowest-quintile families holding a

retirement account, whereas 50 percent of all families

responding to the survey reported participation in some type

of retirement savings plan.

How can these disparities be addressed? Some general

approaches to helping families of modest means build assets

and improve their economic well-being include community

economic development, financial education, and programs that

encourage saving and investment. In the remainder of my

remarks, I will discuss each of these approaches briefly and

offer some insights into their effectiveness based on

research and experience.

Community Economic Development

In my time with the Federal Reserve, I have had a number of

opportunities to meet with community economic development

leaders--representatives of groups working to assist lower-

income families become homeowners, start small businesses,

better manage their finances, and save for the future. In

fact, my first trip as a Federal Reserve Board member was to

Brownsville, Texas, where I saw how a grassroots nonprofit

organization is helping to build communities and to provide

residents with the chance to build wealth through

homeownership. The Community Development Corporation (CDC) of

Brownsville works with multiple funding partners--governments

at all levels, financial institutions, foundations, and

corporations--to construct housing and to design innovative

loan products that enable low-income families to qualify for

mortgage credit. For example, because of the mix of funding

sources, mortgage loans can be offered with features such as

down-payment assistance or a below-market interest rate. The

CDC of Brownsville also offers a program that allows

prospective homeowners to acquire ``sweat equity'' in a

property by working on construction teams to help build their

own new home and those of other participating families.

As in the case of many community development organizations,

the Brownsville CDC has also made financial education a

critical element of its efforts to help lower-income

residents improve their financial status. For example,

participation in financial counseling or in an education

program is typically required for a borrower to obtain a loan

through the CDC or through one of its lending partners.

However, the broader aim of these programs is to improve

borrowers' prospects for longer-term success in

maintaining their credit and handling their overall

finances. Since 1994, through this combination of

leveraged financing arrangements and borrower education,

the CDC of Brownsville has helped make homeownership

possible for more than 2,500 low-income families. I cite

the Brownsville example because of the opportunity that I

had to learn about their work (and I recently had a

similar opportunity to see some impressive community

development efforts in the Anacostia neighborhood of the

District of Columbia). But this localized approach to

community development and wealth-building is playing out

in neighborhoods throughout the country, in most cases

through strategies tailored to the distinct needs of the

particular community.

Financial Education and Financial Literacy

Financial education has not only been integral to community

development but has also begun to play a larger role in the

broader consumer market. Clearly, to choose wisely from the

wide variety of financial products and providers available,

consumers must have at least basic financial knowledge.

People who understand the financial aspects of purchasing a

home or starting a business, or who appreciate the importance

of saving for children's education or retirement, will almost

certainly be economically better off than those without that

vital information. Financial literacy can be acquired through

many channels: in school, on the job, through community

programs and counseling, or through self-education and

experience.

Studies generally find that people receiving financial

education or counseling have better financial outcomes. For

example, research that analyzed data on nearly 40,000

mortgage loans targeted to lower-income borrowers found that

families that received individual financial counseling were

less likely later to become delinquent on their mortgage

payments. Similarly, another study found that borrowers who

sought and received assistance from a credit counseling

agency improved their credit management, in particular, by

reducing the number of credit accounts on which they carried

positive balances, cutting overall debt, and reducing

delinquency rates. More broadly, the research shows that

financial knowledge is correlated with good financial

outcomes; for example, individuals familiar with basic

financial concepts and products have been found to be more

likely to balance their checkbook every month, budget for

savings, and hold investment accounts.

Studies that establish an association between financial

knowledge and good financial outcomes are encouraging, but

they do not necessarily prove that financial training and

counseling are the causes of the better outcomes. It could

be, for example, that counseling is associated with better

financial outcomes because the consumers who choose to seek

counseling are the ones who are already better informed or

more motivated to make good financial decisions. In medicine

and other fields, researchers gain a better understanding of

what causes what by doing controlled studies, in which some

subjects are randomly assigned a particular treatment while

others do not receive it. To translate this idea to the

analysis of the effects of financial counseling, the Federal

Reserve Board's Division of Consumer and Community Affairs is

collaborating with the Department of Defense to conduct a

three-year study of the effects of financial education. This

study will evaluate the impact of various educational

programs on the financial decisions of soldiers and their

families. It includes a treatment group of those receiving

financial education, with the programs each family receives

and when they receive it being determined randomly, and a

control group of similar soldiers and their families who have

not received this formal financial education. Because

assignments of individuals to programs will be random, any

observed changes in behavior can be more reliably attributed

to the type and amount of counseling received. Among other

things, the results of this study should help us better

understand whether financial education leads to changes in

behavior for participants in general or only for those at

critical teaching moments, such as the period before making a

major financial decision such as choosing a mortgage.

I would like to say just a few words about the Federal

Reserve's broader role in promoting consumers' understanding

of financial products and services. Beyond conducting surveys

of consumers and doing research, we work in a number of ways

to support consumers in their financial decisionmaking. For

example, through our consumer protection rule-writing

authority, the Federal Reserve sets requirements that specify

the information that must be disclosed to consumers about the

terms and fees associated with credit and deposit accounts.

These disclosures provide consumers with the essential

information they need to assess the costs and benefits of

financial services and compare products among different

providers. We are currently reviewing many of our disclosures

and plan to use focus groups and

other methods to try to make these disclosures as clear and

as user-friendly as possible.

The Federal Reserve System also works to promote financial

education and financial literacy through various outreach and

educational activities. We provide a great deal of

substantive financial information, including interactive

tools for economic education, on our education website

www.federalreserveeducation.org. The website links to a wide

variety of financial education resources at the local,

regional, and national levels.

Additionally, the Federal Reserved Board collaborates with

educational and community development organizations to

support their efforts. Our national partners include the

Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, the

Conference of Mayors' DollarWi$e Campaign, Operation HOPE,

the American Savings Education Council, and America Saves,

among others. At the regional level, the 12 Federal Reserve

Banks work with organizations to support financial education

and financial literacy. For example, the Federal Reserve Bank

of Cleveland has worked with community financial educators to

form regional networks that combine resources and share best

practices. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago sponsors

``MoneySmart Week,'' partnering with banks, businesses,

government agencies, schools, community organizations, and

libraries to host activities designed to help consumers learn

how to manage money. The Federal Reserve Banks of San

Francisco and Minneapolis have worked with leaders in the

Native American community to develop financial education

materials. My recent testimony to Congress on financial

literacy provided information on many other projects and

programs. The Federal Reserve will continue to make financial

education a priority.

Strategies to Encourage Saving

Even if people know that they would be better off if they

saved more or budgeted more wisely, we all know from personal

experience that translating good intentions into action can

be difficult. (Think about how hard it is to keep New Year's

resolutions.) The field of behavioral economics, which

studies economic and financial decisions from a psychological

perspective, has cast new light on consumer behavior and led

to recommendations about how to improve people's financial

management. For example, studies of individual choices in

401(k) savings plans strongly suggest that workers do not pay

adequate attention to their saving and investment decisions.

Notably, despite the tax advantages of 401(k) contributions

and, in some cases, a generous employer match, one-quarter of

workers eligible for 401(k) plans do not participate. Studies

have found, however, that if firms change the presentation of

the plan from an ``opt-in'' choice to an ``opt-out''

choice, in which workers are automatically enrolled unless

they actively choose to remain out of the plan,

participation rates increase substantially. The impact of

changing from ``opt-in'' to ``opt-out'' is particularly

evident for younger and lower-income workers, who may have

less financial expertise.

In addition, participants in savings plans evidently do not

understand the various investment options that are offered. A

survey by the investment management firm, The Vanguard Group,

found that many plan participants cannot assess the risk

inherent in different types of financial assets; for example,

many did not appreciate that a diversified equity mutual fund

is generally less risky than keeping most of one's wealth in

the form of the employer's stock. Indeed, employees appear to

invest heavily in their company's stock despite the fact that

their income is already tied to the fortunes of their

employer. More than one-quarter of 401(k) balances are held

in company stock, and this high share arises not only from an

employer match but from voluntary purchases as well.

These insights into consumer behavior have prompted some

changes in the design of retirement plans and in education

programs focused on saving for retirement. More employers now

feature automatic enrollment in their 401(k) plans in an

effort to boost participation. Also, some have set the

default investment option to a diversified portfolio that is

rebalanced automatically as the worker ages or have set

contribution rates to rise automatically over time in line

with salary increases.

However, although these changes in program design may boost

saving and improve investment choices, they are not a

substitute for continued financial education. Employers,

including the Federal Reserve Board, offer financial

education at the workplace to help their workers gain a

better understanding of retirement savings options. Helping

people appreciate the importance of saving and giving them

the tools they need to translate that knowledge into action

remain major challenges.

Conclusion

Let me close by observing that many factors influence

consumer financial behavior. Financial education is clearly

central to helping consumers make better decisions for

themselves and their families, but policymakers, regulators,

nonprofit organizations, and financial service providers must

all help ensure that consumers have the tools and the

information they need to make better decisions. Success can

only come through collaborative efforts. I see much interest

today in increased collaboration toward these objectives,

both in Washington and around the country.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I

encourage you to continue working together to help provide

increased economic opportunity in your communities, and I

wish you the best of luck in your efforts.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Richard W. Fisher, CEO and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, for hosting me recently at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Richard W. Fisher assumed the office of president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas on April 4, 2005. President Fisher serves as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve's principal monetary policymaking group.

During my visit, President Fisher provided me with valuable economic information on the 15th District of Congress, as well as insight into the Dallas Bank's efforts to improve financial literacy. I want to commend President Fisher and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas for publishing an excellent brochure entitled, Building Wealth, a Beginner's Guide to Securing Your Financial Future, which is an introduction for individuals and families seeking to develop a plan for building personal wealth. It contains four sections: Learn the language; budget to save; save and invest; and take control of debt. The publication is available in both English and Spanish, and is available in print and it is available as an interactive version on the Dallas Fed's Web site. I encourage you to look it up.

The Dallas Fed is an active partner in several asset-building initiatives throughout its district, including the Texas Asset Building Coalition which promotes personal financial education, affordable homeownership opportunities, individual development accounts/matched savings programs, the earned income tax credit, and antipredatory lending measures.

Again, I want to thank Chairman Bernanke for speaking at my Regional Leaders Issues Conference and President Fisher for hosting me at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Madam Speaker, recently, I held my Fifth Regional Leaders Issues Conference in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Over 140 of my constituents attended the conference, including: elected officials, presidents of universities, educators, heads of Chambers of Commerce and other community leaders in the 15th district of Texas. On Tuesday, June 13, 2006, I was honored to have Dr. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, give remarks to the conferees. He referenced data from the Survey of Consumers Finances, which is a triennial survey sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board. The latest survey revealed some discouraging and alarming statistics: households whose income placed them in the bottom fifth of the population were less likely than the average respondent to maintain a checking or savings account; almost 25 percent of those families were ``unbanked,'' compared to less than 10 percent of families in the other income levels. According to the survey, reasons given for not having an account varied: Some respondents said they would not write enough checks to make having an account worthwhile, but others were dissuaded by minimum balance requirements or said that they did not have enough money to justify opening an account. Chairman Bernanke stated that, in some cases, a lack of knowledge about the services that banks offer including deposit insurance or even a misunderstanding of the important role banks play in our economy.

Chairman Bernanke went on to say that some of the general approaches to helping families of modest means build wealth and improve their economic well-being include community economic development, financial literacy, and other programs that encourage saving and investment. As co-founder and co-chair of the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus, I was pleased by all the information he provided my constituents, and I am pleased with the efforts the Federal Reserve is undertaking to improve financial literacy rates across the United States. I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation for Chairman Bernanke taking time out of his very busy schedule to speak to my constituents. It is my hope that the media will focus more attention on what the Chairman and the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus have to say with regard to financial education and literacy, instead of focusing solely on Chairman Bernanke's comments on the direction of interest rates. I find it odd that the media and some legislators have yet to realize that there is a correlation between the country's poor financial literacy rates and the actions the Federal Reserve has to take from time to time.

Madam Speaker, at this point, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the remarks Chairman Bernanke gave before my Fifth Regional Leaders Issues Conference.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Richard W. Fisher, CEO and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, for hosting me recently at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Richard W. Fisher assumed the office of president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas on April 4, 2005. President Fisher serves as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve's principal monetary policymaking group. He is former vice chairman of Kissinger McLarty Associates, a strategic advisory firm chaired by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. From 1997 to 2001, Fisher was deputy U.S. trade representative with the rank of ambassador. He oversaw the implementation of NAFTA, negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and various agreements with Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Chile and Singapore. He was a senior member of the team that negotiated the bilateral accords for China's and Taiwan's accession to the World Trade Organization. Throughout his career, Fisher has served on numerous for- profit and not-for-profit boards. A first-generation American, Fisher is equally fluent in Spanish and English, having spent his formative years in Mexico. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduated with honors from Harvard University in economics, read Latin American politics at Oxford and received an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

During my visit, President Fisher provided me with valuable economic information on the 15th district of Congress as well as insight into the Dallas Bank's efforts to improve financial literacy. I want to commend President Fisher and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas for publishing an excellent brochure entitled Building Wealth: A Beginner's Guide to Securing Your Financial Future, which is an introduction for individuals and families seeking to develop a plan for building personal wealth. It contains four sections: learn the language, budget to save, save and invest and take control of debt. The publication is available in both English and Spanish and is available in print and as an interactive version on the Dallas Fed's Web site. The Dallas Fed is an active partner in several asset-building initiatives throughout its district, including the Texas Asset Building Coalition, which promotes personal financial education, affordable homeownership opportunities, Individual Development Accounts/matched-savings programs, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and anti-predatory lending measures.

Again, I want to thank Chairman Bernanke for speaking at my Regional Leaders Issues Conference and President Fisher for hosting me at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 854, a resolution recognizing June 2006 as National Homeownership Month, a time for individuals and families to reach for part of the American dream and purchase a home of their own.

In recognition of National Homeownership Month and in my capacity as Chairman and Co-founder of the Congressional Rural Housing Caucus, I became an original co-sponsor of House Resolution 854.

In the United States, each individual has the opportunity to own a home of their own. Homeownership inspires civic responsibility. Homeowners are more likely to vote and get involved with local issues.

Families owning a home are able to offer children a stable living environment. In many cases, homeownership influences a child's personal development in many positive, measurable ways.

Twenty percent of our Nation's population lives in rural communities, yet a majority of these families live in substandard housing conditions.

These communities simply do not have the resources--either economic or infrastructure--to address the problems of substandard housing. The gap between the haves and have nots continues to grow, especially in rural America. Now is the time to stem this tide.

According to the Census Bureau, 48 percent of African-Americans; and, 50 percent of Hispanics owned a home as of the first quarter in 2006. While many gains have been made, lagging minority homeownership rates are a serious concern to me and Congress.

Rural America and minorities are in dire need of housing assistance-- and we should all strive to make every month ``homeownership month.''

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Matsui/ Hinojosa/Gene Green amendment to H.R. 4973.

I want to thank my colleagues, Congresswoman Matsui and Congressman Gene Green, and their staff for collaborating with me on this amendment.

This amendment will protect the ability of low-income individuals to purchase a home once the 500-year plain mapping section of this legislation has been completed.

Should it occur in the future, mandating flood insurance coverage for all those that fall in the 500-year floodplain map will add an additional burden to low-income individuals throughout the United States that might make them unable to afford a home.

I hasten to note that, in all likelihood, the majority of the United States will fall within these new borders. Such insurance requirements will tip the scale in the wrong direction, and low-income individuals will lose their home-buying power and be once again penalized more than those most fortunate in America.

This amendment's study will help ensure that low-income individuals receive the help they need when the 500-year floodplain maps are drawn.

I strongly encourage all of my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, this week was supposed to finally have a vote on increasing the minimum wage for more than 7 million Americans. Unfortunately, it appears the Republican leadership is willing to delay a vote on the must-pass Labor-HHS appropriations bill rather than actually have a real floor debate and a vote on the minimum wage.

This is a real disservice to every American. An increase in the minimum wage does not only benefit the minimum-wage workers, it also helps millions of middle-class workers who would also see their hourly wages increase as a result of a higher minimum wage.

But this is also a question of fairness. It has been 9 years since the minimum-wage workers last received a pay raise. Does that sound fair? Today the minimum wage is its lowest level if you take into account inflation. Do my Republican colleagues really believe that we should continue to force more than 7 million Americans to live on less than $11,000 a year? That may have been a liveable wage 10 years ago, but it surely isn't now. We should do the right thing and expand economic opportunity to millions of Americans who are just trying to make a living wage.