Bill Clinton: “I join in support of this amendment because we know, from a lot of the work that has been done over the last several…”

“I join in support of this amendment because we know, from a lot of the work that has been done over the last several years, many students are being deliberately solicited, even targeted, for credit cards before they are financially independent, responsible, or knowledgeable about what it is they are signing up for. Story after story has demonstrated clearly that this particular amendment by my good friend, the Senator from Connecticut, targets a real problem. I think all of us are committed to ensuring that people who are irresponsible with their financial affairs are held accountable. But I think we should look at our young people in a different category. It used to be no one could be held financially responsible when they were under 21. Then the age was dropped for many purposes to 18. But despite how quickly it seems our children grow up these days, there are many young people in college or out working who are not yet 21 who do not really have the experience to deal with the solicitations that come flooding through the mail and over the telephone that we know are targeting them with these credit card applications. This morning, I was talking with another colleague of ours who told me he was babysitting for his very young grandchildren. He put them to bed, the phone rang, and the person on the other end asked for one of his granddaughters. Our colleague said: What is this about?…”