Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL)
Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus
NFL and Visa Financial Football Kickoff
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Rayburn House Office Building Room 2168
2:00 p.m.
Judy with former Washington Redskins Darrell Green (right) and Brian Mitchell (left) at the Financial Football launch.
Welcome. Thank you Lisa for that kind introduction. I would also like to thank Visa, the NFL, and our special guests, former Washington Redskin greats Darrell Green and Brian Mitchell, here today as Visa’s Financial Literacy Ambassadors, and finally, our audience for showing interest in a subject that is near and dear to my heart -- financial education. I hope that you get a substantial "return" on your participation in this important event.
This is the second year that Visa has teamed up with the NFL and its players to promote financial literacy and to get students engaged and excited about their financial futures. I am pleased that the NFL has taken such a leadership role on this issue, and that my favorite team, the Chicago Bears, has also been involved in this important cause.
As co-chairs of the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus, Congressman Ruben Hinojosa and I requested that the Financial Services Committee hold a hearing on what the private sector is doing to improve the financial literacy of Americans. That hearing will occur later this month, in the early weeks of another NFL season. Efforts like Visa’s to proactively educate people about personal finance and economics will be prominently featured at that hearing.
Earlier this year, the House passed a resolution declaring April financial literacy month by a narrow margin of 423-1. Would you call that a "blowout" Darrell?
The Resolution promotes public and private sector financial literacy programs and activities, like Visa and the NFL’s Financial Football program. But it also says that Americans have not been quarterbacking their personal finances all that well. For example:
Ø Sixty percent of preteens do not know the difference between cash, credit cards, and checks. The majority of students failed a basic financial literacy exam.
Ø In the last quarter of 2005, the personal savings rate dropped to negative-point-two-percent -- one of the lowest since the Great Depression.
Ø Studies show that as many as 10 million households in the United States are 'unbanked.' They don’t even have a bank or credit union account.
Ø 37 percent of workers are not currently saving for retirement.
This has to change, and I have been working with Congressman Hinojosa and the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus to identify solutions to this growing problem. Visa’s Financial Football is one of those solutions.
I have learned a great deal about the challenges facing us as we work to educate Americans, especially students, about the importance of financial literacy. By launching this seventeen city tour to promote financial literacy in our nation’s high schools, Visa and the NFL are doing a great deal to prepare our next generation to be fiscally fit adults. I only hope that the Bears will be as successful this season on the field as Visa and the NFL have been with this program.
And now, I’d like to turn it over to Rhonda Bentz, of Visa, who will talk to you about the rest of today’s event and give a more formal introduction to our NFL guests. The Bears’ players were understandably busy preparing for their upcoming, hopefully successful, season and unable to make it here to Washington, but I certainly am pleased that these two outstanding Redskin greats are able to be here with us today. |