Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 1257, ``Supporting the goals and ideals of National Financial Literacy Month, 2010, and for other purposes.'' Let me begin by thanking my colleague Representative Ruben Hinojosa from my home state of Texas for introducing this legislation into the House of Representatives as it is important that we continually promote and encourage honest and thrifty financial decision making abilities in our citizens. Considering the current state of our economy, Mr. Speaker, it is critically important that we begin raising public awareness about financial education. A recent study put forth by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) stated that approximately 54 percent of Black households, 44.5 percent of American Indian/Alaskan households, and 43.3 percent of Hispanic households either have no checking or savings accounts or have used non-bank money orders, non-bank check- cashing services, payday loans, rent-to-own agreements, or pawn shops at least once or twice a year. This statistic is alarming to many in our nation, Mr. Speaker, and it highlights an increasing lack of financial awareness in our nation. By educating our citizens on the proper use of checking and savings accounts as well as educating citizens of other financial instruments we will seek to see a reduction in the use of payday loans, pawn shops and other predatory financial transactions in our nation.…”