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THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S ROLE IN 

EMPOWERING AMERICANS TO MAKE 

INFORMED FINANCIAL DECISIONS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, 

THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JULY 15, 2010 

Available via http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs 

( 


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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois 

EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina 

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL 

WORKFORCE, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois 

EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts 

LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina 

LISA M. POWELL, Staff Director 

MATTHEW J. PIPPIN, Deputy Legislative Director 

BENJAMIN B. RHODESIDE, Legislative Aide 

JENNIFER A. HEMINGWAY, Minority Staff Director 

AARON H. WOOLF, Chief Clerk 


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C O N T E N T S 

Opening statement: Page 

Senator Akaka .................................................................................................. 1 

WITNESSES 

THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2010 

Michael Barr, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, U.S. Department 

of the Treasury ..................................................................................................... 4 

Christine Griffin, Deputy Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management ........ 6 

Brenda Dann-Messier, Assistant Secretary, Office of Vocational and Adult 

Education, U.S. Department of Education ......................................................... 8 

Sandra L. Thompson, Director, Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation .................................................... 10 

Marianna LaCanfora, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Retirement and Disability Policy, Social Security Administration ................................................... 11 

Barbara Roper, Director of Investor Protection, Consumer Federation of 

America ................................................................................................................. 21 

Lynne Egan, Deputy Securities Commissioner, Montana Office of State Auditor, on behalf of the North American Securities Administrators Association . 23 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Barr, Michael: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 4 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 29 

Dann-Messier, Brenda: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 8 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 40 

Egan, Lynne: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 23 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 69 

Griffin, Christine: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 35 

LaCanfora, Marianna: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 11 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 54 

Roper, Barbara: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 21 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 60 

Thompson, Sandra L.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 10 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 44 

APPENDIX 

Background .............................................................................................................. 79 

Questions and responses for the Record: 

Mr. Barr ............................................................................................................ 83 

Ms. Griffin ......................................................................................................... 86 

Ms. Dan-Messier ............................................................................................... 89 

Ms. Thompson ................................................................................................... 92 

Ms. LaConfora .................................................................................................. 96 

Ms. Roper .......................................................................................................... 99 


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THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S ROLE IN 

EMPOWERING AMERICANS TO MAKE 

INFORMED FINANCIAL DECISIONS 

THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2010 

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT

MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE,

AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:48 p.m., in room 

SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Daniel K. Akaka, 

Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senator Akaka. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA 

Senator AKAKA. I call this hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the 

District of Columbia to order. 

I want to welcome our witnesses to today’s hearing, the Federal 

Government’s Role in Empowering Americans to Make Informed 

Financial Decisions. 

Without a sufficient understanding of economics and personal 

finance, individuals cannot appropriately manage their finances, effectively evaluate credit opportunities, successfully invest for longterm financial goals in an increasingly complex marketplace, or 

cope with difficult financial situations. It is essential that we continue to improve education, consumer protections, and economic 

empowerment activities for individuals and families through economic and financial literacy in order to build stronger families, 

businesses, and communities. 

Financial literacy is an issue that is even more important as 

working families struggle financially. It is when people lose jobs 

and wages fall, when housing values decline and adjustable-rate 

mortgages reset, when 401(k) values plummet, that the true cost 

of financial illiteracy among working families becomes apparent. 

My interest in financial literacy dates back to when my fourth 

grade teacher required me to have a piggy bank. We were made to 

understand how money that was saved a little at a time can grow 

into a large amount, enough to buy things that would have been 

impossible to obtain without savings. My piggy bank experience 


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taught me important lessons about money management that have 

stayed with me throughout my life. 

The piggy bank lesson was even more meaningful because I grew 

up in an unbanked family. My parents kept their money in a box 

divided into different sections so that money could be separated for 

various purposes. Church donations were kept in one part. Money 

for clothes was kept in another. There was a portion of the box reserved for food expenses. When there was no longer any money in 

the food section, we didn’t eat. Obviously, money in a box was not 

earning interest. It was not secure. 

I know personally the challenges that are presented to families 

unable to save or borrow when they need small loans to pay for unexpected expenses. Unexpected medical expenses or a car repair 

bill may require small loans to help working families overcome 

these obstacles. 

During my service in the Senate, I have focused on advancing a 

financial literacy agenda that includes education, consumer protection, and economic empowerment for working families through different venues and at different teachable moments in people’s lives. 

I will summarize several of my financial literacy efforts that will 

provide some context for the first panel of witnesses. 

In 2003, along with Senator Sarbanes at that time and other colleagues, we created the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC). The Commission is tasked with developing and implementing a national strategy to improve the financial literacy of 

Americans. I included a mandate that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) develop and implement a retirement financial literacy and education strategy for Federal employees in the Thrift 

Savings Plan Open Elections Act of 2004. My Excellence in Economic Education Act authorizes a range of activities, such as teacher training, research and evaluation, and school-based activities to 

further economic principles. I have obtained funding of approximately $1.5 million for the Act in each fiscal year since 2004 to 

fund these necessary activities. 

In the Dodd-Frank Conference Report, there are several education-related provisions. It will create an Office of Financial Education within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The office 

will develop and implement initiatives to educate and empower 

consumers. A strategy to improve the financial literacy among consumers that includes measurable goals and benchmarks must be 

developed. The administrator of the Bureau will serve as vice 

chairman of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission to 

ensure meaningful participation in Federal financial literacy efforts. 

However, education is only one component of financial literacy. 

We must also ensure that consumers are adequately protected. Too 

many Americans are taken advantage of by unscrupulous lenders 

through refund anticipation loans, payday loans, and other predatory products. The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will 

be empowered to restrict predatory financial products and unfair 

business practices in order to prevent unscrupulous financial services providers from taking advantage of consumers. 

The Dodd-Frank bill also modifies the Electronic Fund Transfer 

Act to establish consumer protections for remittances. It will reVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:49 Oct 26, 2010 Jkt 058401 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\58401.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT

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quire that simple disclosures about the cost of sending remittances 

be provided to the consumer prior to and after the transaction. A 

complaint and error resolution process for remittance transactions 

will be established. 

The third vital component of financial literacy is economic empowerment. I am proud to have added Title 12, the Increasing Access to Mainstream Financial Institutions Act, to the Dodd-Frank 

bill. Mainstream financial institutions are a vital component to economic empowerment. Unbanked or underbanked families need access to credit unions and banks, and they need to be able to borrow 

on affordable terms. Banks and credit unions provide alternatives 

to high-cost and often predatory fringe financial service providers, 

such as check cashiers and payday lenders. Many of the unbanked 

and underbanked are low-income and moderate-income families 

that cannot afford to have their earnings diminished by reliance on 

these high-cost and often predatory financial services. 

Unbanked families are unable to save securely for education expenses, the downpayment on a first home, or other future financial 

needs. Underbanked consumers rely on non-traditional forms of 

credit that often have extraordinarily high interest rates. Regular 

checking accounts may be too expensive for some consumers unable 

to maintain minimum balances or afford monthly fees. Cultural differences or language barriers may also hinder the ability of consumers to access financial services. More must be done to promote 

product development outreach and financial education opportunities intended to empower consumers. 

Title 12 authorizes programs to assist low- and moderate-income 

individuals establish bank or credit union accounts and encourages 

greater use of mainstream financial services. It will also encourage 

the development of small, affordable loans as an alternative to 

more costly loans. Consumers who apply for these loans would be 

provided with financial literacy and educational opportunities. 

The second panel today will focus on issues relating to investor 

financial literacy. The Dodd-Frank bill contains several significant 

items of importance to investors. I added a financial literacy study 

that will be conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission 

(SEC). The SEC will be required to develop an Investor Financial 

Literacy Strategy intended to bring about positive behavioral 

change among investors. 

I also worked to clarify authority for the SEC to effectively require disclosures prior to the sale of financial products and services. Working families depend on their mutual fund investments 

and other financial products to pay for their children’s education, 

prepare for retirement, and attain other financial goals. This provision will ensure that working families have the relevant and useful 

information they need when they are making decisions that will determine their future financial condition. 

Today’s hearing provides an opportunity to examine Federal financial literacy efforts and the Financial Literacy and Education 

Commission. I appreciate the appearance of our witnesses today. 

The Financial Literacy and Education Commission has made significant progress during the current Administration, and I am delighted with the progress being made by all of the agencies represented at the hearing today. I look forward to continuing to colVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:49 Oct 26, 2010 Jkt 058401 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\58401.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT

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1The prepared statement of Mr. Barr appears in the Appendix on page 29. 

laborate with them and with you on these issues of vital importance to working families. 

And now I welcome our first panel of witnesses to the Subcommittee: Michael Barr, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of Treasury; Christine Griffin, Deputy Director at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management; Brenda 

Dann-Messier, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Vocational and 

Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education; Sandra 

Thompson, Director of the Division of Supervision and Consumer 

Protection at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; and 

Marianna LaCanfora, Assistant Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Retirement and Disability Policy at the U.S. Social Security 

Administration. 

As you know, it is the custom of this Subcommittee to swear in 

all witnesses. Will you please raise your right hand? 

Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give before 

this Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 

the truth, so help you, God? 

Mr. BARR. I do. 

Ms. GRIFFIN. I do. 

Ms. DANN-MESSIER. I do. 

Ms. THOMPSON. I do. 

Ms. LACANFORA. I do. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Let it be noted for the record that 

the witnesses answered in the affirmative. 

Before we start, I want you to know that your full written statements will be made part of the record, and I would like to remind 

you to please limit your oral remarks to 5 minutes. 

Assistant Secretary Barr, welcome and please proceed with your 

statement. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. MICHAEL BARR,1 ASSISTANT SECRETARY 

FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE 

TREASURY 

Mr. BARR. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to appear today before you on a topic of critical importance 

to the Administration, to the Department of the Treasury, and really to our whole Nation, that of empowering Americans to make informed financial decisions. We appreciate the Subcommittee’s bipartisan focus on this topic, and I want to thank you in particular, 

Senator Akaka, for your leadership over so many decades on this 

critical issue. 

I also want to thank the other members of this panel here today 

with me. Financial capability is an area in which we have all been 

working collaboratively and building upon each other’s efforts, and 

the agencies represented here this morning are among the strongest partners in this effort. 

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, there has never been 

a more important time to get this right. We must improve our system to make it safer and more stable and improve the financial capability of individual Americans to build a country in which more 


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families have the knowledge, skills, and financial access to make 

good financial choices and build stronger financial futures. 

We have historically just passed the most important financial reform since the Great Depression. Two weeks ago, a Conference 

Committee of the House and Senate produced a bill with strong 

protections for Main Street against financial folly or misconduct on 

Wall Street. And the bill strengthens protections for taxpayers, investors, and consumers. It helps community banks, credit unions, 

and small businesses. It ends ‘‘too big to fail.’’ It winds down the 

Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and strengthens our financial system. And today, the Senate has followed the House and 

passed this historic reform. 

These changes are absolutely critical, but they are not enough. 

Personal responsibility and increased knowledge, skills, and access 

are essential to empowering Americans to make better financial decisions. And the Federal Government has an important role to play 

in ensuring that Americans have these tools. 

Let me just update you slightly on the work of FLEC and to report on the significant activities of the agencies who have worked 

together over this last year. In January, we were pleased to have 

the White House, represented by the Office of Public Engagement, 

formally join the Council, and their membership underscores the 

Administration’s commitment to these issues. 

Last July, we brought all 20 member agencies together to identify key priorities. First, one of the most critical issues for our 

members was that a new national strategy was needed, and after 

a comprehensive and inclusive year-long process, we will be putting 

out a national strategy for public comment in the very near future. 

The second area of focus is outreach and communications, and in 

April, FLEC launched its redesigned mymoney.gov Web site. The 

new site is now available in English and in Spanish and has enhanced interactive features and utility to provide more resources to 

Americans seeking information that can inform their personal financial decisions. 

Third, the Core Competencies Working Group has worked closely 

with a group of experts in financial education, including researchers and practitioners, to identify core competencies that it will be 

putting out for public comment in the coming weeks, with the ultimate goal to put it out in a format that is easily accessible and remembered, analogous to the Food Pyramid. 

And finally, to encourage research and collaboration among agencies and other experts, Treasury is working closely with the FLEC 

to establish a research clearinghouse next year. 

In addition, we have been working on the National Financial Capability Challenge in partnership with the Department of Education to assist teachers in their financial education efforts and increase the focus on financial education in our high schools. We 

have worked through the Office of Financial Education to run pilot 

programs around the country, experimenting with what works and 

what doesn’t work in local communities. 

And our most significant new proposed initiative is our Bank on 

USA program. The President has asked for a serious commitment 

of Federal dollars to help State and local governments, Community 

Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), community banks do 


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1The prepared statement of Ms. Griffin appears in the Appendix on page 35. 

a better job reaching out to low- and moderate-income Americans 

and bringing them into the financial mainstream. 

Of course, the new bill that has just been passed by the Senate 

includes your Title 12, in which you showed such great leadership 

in providing a road map for increased access to financial services, 

to low-cost low-dollar loans, and other initiatives to provide low-income Americans with better opportunities to enter the financial 

mainstream, and we very much look forward to working with you 

to implement that program. 

Last, let me just mention that we have an opportunity through 

our electronic Treasury initiatives to make a big difference in the 

lives of low-income Americans through low-cost debit accounts that 

we will be working on in the coming weeks and months. 

Let me just sum up by saying that in the wake of the financial 

crisis, we have a real opportunity and an obligation to improve financial stability on both a national and individual level, and Treasury looks forward to working with you and with the Congress as 

a whole, with our sister agencies, and with the private sector to 

empower all Americans to make smarter financial choices. 

Thank you very much. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Assistant Secretary Barr, 

for your testimony. 

Now, Deputy Director Griffin, will you please proceed. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. CHRISTINE GRIFFIN,1 DEPUTY 

DIRECTOR, U.S. OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 

Ms. GRIFFIN. Thank you, Chairman Akaka, for the opportunity 

to testify today on the critical work that the Office of Personnel 

Management is doing to improve the financial literacy of Federal 

employees and to ensure that they are adequately prepared for retirement. 

OPM is committed to educating Federal employees about the 

need for retirement savings and providing information on how to 

plan for retirement. As part of that commitment, OPM was pleased 

to participate in Financial Literacy Day on Capitol Hill in April. 

OPM is proud of the active role it has taken as a member of the 

Financial Literacy and Education Commission. As Co-Chair of the 

National Financial Education Network, OPM seeks to facilitate and 

advance financial education at the State and local level. OPM is a 

member of the FLEC Core Competencies Working Group and is 

working to identify the core financial competencies all Americans 

should have. 

Due to the leadership of the Subcommittee, Congress has taken 

steps to improve financial literacy of Federal employees by passing 

the Thrift Savings Plan’s Open Election Act of 2004, and in response, OPM developed a comprehensive retirement education 

strategy called Retirement Readiness NOW. The Retirement Readiness model considers retirement financial literacy and financial 

education as a career-long process and not just something that happens when you are near retirement. 

The model incorporates a broad range of information that helps 

employees make informed retirement planning decisions. OPM’s 


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Retirement Readiness NOW model takes a holistic approach to 

planning that doesn’t just focus on getting employees ready for retirement, it also touches upon work-life balance, overall healthy living, and available Federal benefits. 

OPM has three key roles in retirement readiness: Catalyst, capacity, and coordination. OPM serves as the catalyst for retirement 

readiness programs by helping to focus attention on the issue, by 

speaking at conferences and doing the outreach that we do. 

OPM builds capacity by providing training and tools to agency 

benefit offices so that they can assist employees in understanding 

their benefits and identifying their financial education needs. In 

May, OPM conducted our fifth Benefits Officer Retirement Financial Education Symposium. OPM coordinates financial education by 

identifying resources and creating partnerships with agencies to leverage the use of these materials for employees. 

One of the best options available to Federal employees today to 

plan for retirement is through the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). This 

is a critical component for Federal employees who are trying to 

plan responsibly for retirement. OPM recently released a study 

analyzing the participation rates in the TSP. While participation 

rates are generally high, or higher than the private sector, the data 

indicates that minorities lag behind in terms of participation, contributions, and overall TSP balances, while women lag behind in 

contributions and balances. Over time, we know the automatic enrollment provisions contained in the TSP Enhancement Act of 2009 

should help reduce these discrepancies. However, OPM is taking 

action immediately to reduce the discrepancies. 

We are building strategic partnerships with groups representing 

diverse populations of Federal employees, such as the affinity 

groups and the unions. We are providing agencies and partners 

with financial education programs focused on helping employees 

understand the importance of savings through the TSP by conducting outreach to agencies to make them aware of the resources 

available to help promote TSP. OPM will evaluate our outreach 

programs to determine their effectiveness. 

Agencies also play a key role through their responsibility of identifying employee needs, providing training and information to employees, and providing feedback to OPM that enables us to continue to improve the agencies’ retirement education capacity. However, OPM and agencies can’t adequately improve employees’ retirement readiness by ourselves. Employees must be willing to take 

advantage of the financial education opportunities presented to 

them and they must assume the responsibility for meeting their 

own retirement goals. We also have the responsibility of making it 

attractive for the employees to actually want to receive that education. We at OPM values the agencies and the Federal employees 

as our partner in this process. 

Thanks for allowing me to testify before the Subcommittee on 

this important issue and I will be glad to answer any questions. 

Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Deputy Director Griffin, 

for your statement. 

And now Assistant Secretary Dann-Messier, your statement. 


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1The prepared statement of Ms. Dann-Messier appears in the Appendix on page 40. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. BRENDA DANN-MESSIER,1 ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY, OFFICE OF VOCATIONAL AND ADULT EDUCATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Ms. DANN-MESSIER. Good afternoon, Chairman Akaka, and 

thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before you 

today to discuss what the U.S. Department of Education is doing 

to help Americans improve their abilities in making informed financial decisions, and I also want to express my personal gratitude 

to you, Mr. Chairman, for your leadership on this very important 

issue. 

In my remarks, I will talk about our current financial education 

efforts, including ways in which we are working with other agencies as part of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission. 

The three messages I hope to leave with you are: The Department 

of Education believes that improving financial literacy in this country is essential if we are to educate our way to a better economy 

and once again lead the world in the proportion of citizens with college degrees and certificates. We must provide financial literacy 

education for all segments of students, starting early and going 

through adulthood, if we are truly going to make a difference. And 

we have to focus on outcomes, not just activities, so we can be sure 

we are spending the taxpayers’ dollars wisely and doing what 

works. 

Before I came to the Department, I witnessed a consistent lack 

of financial literacy among the students of Dorcas Place Adult and 

Family Learning Center that I led in Providence, Rhode Island. I 

know firsthand how pervasive and pressing this issue is, so I am 

pleased to be able to tell you what we are doing at the Department 

of Education to address it. 

I will start with what we are doing for post-secondary education 

students. All of our future competitions for the Talent Search, Upward Bound, Student Support Services programs, three of our Federal TRIO college and success programs, will reflect the new Higher Education Act (HEA) requirement to include financial and economic literacy activities. We are also encouraging State and local 

coordination across all TRIO programs, GEAR UP and the recently 

expanded College Access Challenge Grant program, in which financial and economic literacy activities are allowable, and we are examining how to better track whether and to what effect grantees 

under these programs use funds for this purpose. 

The Department’s Federal Student Aid program educates students and families about the cost and benefits of post-secondary 

education and about Federal grants, loans, and work-study opportunities that could help students afford post-secondary education. 

We have begun to discuss ways to evaluate the effectiveness of 

these efforts and to pursue promising practices. 

An Institution for Education Sciences study from 2006 to 2007 

demonstrated that helping people complete the Free Application for 

Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) immediately after providing tax 

preparation assistance led to increased FAFSA submissions and 

college enrollment, while finding that only providing information on 


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college costs and available financial aid to a control group had no 

effect. 

Finally, we require entrance and exit loan counseling for all Federal student loan borrowers and we are developing ways to learn 

more about the effectiveness of loan counseling through an experimental sites initiative at Federal Student Aid (FSA). 

We are also concerned about the lack of financial literacy among 

adult learners. Approximately 55 percent of American adults, over 

120 million people, possess only basic or below-basic quantitative 

literacy skills. This makes them vulnerable to predatory lending 

practices or to making small mistakes that can have major consequences. The Department is investing $2.3 million to increase the 

numeracy levels in adults through the Adult Numeracy Instruction 

Project. 

Now I would like to turn to financial literacy among elementary 

and secondary education students. The Excellence in Economic 

Education program, which received $1.4 million in fiscal year 2010, 

aims to strengthen teaching and learning in personal finance, economics, and entrepreneurship. Also, under the Civics Education 

program, the Department promotes economic literacy in the United 

States and abroad. For fiscal year 2011, we have proposed to enhance the States’ and high-need school districts’ ability to promote 

financial literacy by consolidating these programs, along with several others, into a new Effective Teaching and Learning for a WellRounded Education Program, which would provide $265 million to 

support innovative and promising practices on a range of subjects, 

including financial literacy. 

Also in fiscal year 2010, the Department will devote $1.7 million 

for the Fund for the Improvement of Education funds to the Financial Education for College Access and Success Program for one or 

more States to develop, implement, and evaluate high school-level 

personal finance instructional materials and related teacher training for the purpose of increasing personal finance understanding, 

FAFSA completion, and college enrollment. This grant will be for 

a 4-year period to allow sufficient time to determine effectiveness. 

In addition, we are cooperating closely with our FLEC member 

agencies. We work closely with the Treasury Department, as you 

heard, to carry out the National Financial Capability Challenge. 

Over 1,500 teachers and 76,000 high school students participated. 

We are committed to working with the Treasury Department on 

this annual project to promote financial education in schools, and 

we would be very interested in working with you and your colleagues to increase participation in the challenge next year. 

We are planning a senior-level meeting with our colleagues in 

the Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 

(FDIC), and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to 

discuss how the Department can support the Administration’s economic inclusion strategy, and we are planning many back-to-school 

events with FDIC and NCUA to highlight schools that promote financial capability by linking with local banks and credit unions. 

Finally, FSA is consulting with FDIC on the redevelopment of 

their Money Smart for Young Adults Financial Education Modules 

to enhance the paying for college section to make sure that it is 

current and helpful as possible. 


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1The prepared statement of Ms. Thompson appears in the Appendix on page 44. 

Improving financial literacy for elementary, secondary, post-secondary, and adult students is critically important and it is an important part of the strategy for achieving the President’s 2020 college completion goal, and it is essential for making the American 

dream a reality for people across the country. We are committed 

to working with you and your colleagues across the Administration 

on this issue. 

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Assistant Secretary 

Dann-Messier. 

And now I would call on Director Thompson for your statement. 

Please proceed. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. SANDRA L. THOMPSON,1 DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF SUPERVISION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION, FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION 

Ms. THOMPSON. Good afternoon, Chairman Akaka. I appreciate 

the opportunity to testify about the FDIC’s role in empowering 

Americans to make informed financial decisions. 

It is essential that people of all ages and all income levels and 

from all walks of life are able to make sound financial decisions. 

The recent financial crisis illustrated the broad economic harm that 

results when individuals spend beyond their means financed by 

debt that they cannot afford to repay. Access to a federally-insured 

bank account is a first step to consumers achieving financial security. Unfortunately, many consumers remain outside the financial 

mainstream. 

Last December, the FDIC released the findings of our National 

Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households. The survey estimated that about 8 percent of U.S. households are unbanked and 

about 18 percent are underbanked. Taken together, this accounts 

for about a quarter, or close to 30 million U.S. households. The survey findings also showed that Blacks and Hispanics were more 

likely to be underserved than the population as a whole. Clearly, 

much more needs to be done to ensure a fully inclusive banking 

system. 

At the FDIC, we believe financial education is critical. Our 

Money Smart program, which was launched almost 9 years ago, 

has reached almost 2.5 million people. We conducted a study to determine the program’s effectiveness and it showed that financial 

literacy can positively influence how people manage their finances. 

The study also found that participants were more likely to open a 

bank account and save after they took the Money Smart course 

than before they took the course. The FDIC uses partnerships and 

collaborative relationships to promote Money Smart. Approximately 

1,500 public, private, and nonprofit organizations help to deliver 

and support Money Smart through the FDIC’s Money Smart Alliance. 

Another important part of our education efforts involves helping 

people with bank accounts understand how deposit insurance 

works. We have an interactive online tool called the Electronic DeVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:49 Oct 26, 2010 Jkt 058401 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\58401.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT

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1The prepared statement of Ms. LaCanfora appears in the Appendix on page 54. 

posit Insurance Estimator, and inside we call it EDIE, and it helps 

bank customers determine if their bank accounts are fully insured. 

Now, we don’t do this alone. The FDIC works on the governmentwide Financial Literacy and Education Commission. We have been 

significantly involved in drafting the new national strategy to promote financial literacy and education. And we also chair the subcommittee that is developing the core financial competencies. 

The FDIC is also working to ensure that the underserved can access appropriate credit products from banks. In February 2008, the 

FDIC launched a pilot program to determine the feasibility of 

banks offering small-dollar loans as an alternative to high-cost 

credit. We have just completed the pilot and it showed that banks 

can offer affordable small-dollar loans in a way that suits their 

business plans and is fair to consumers. Interestingly, the pilot 

suggests that there may be a correlation between financial education and improved loan performance. 

The FDIC believes that a solid financial education is essential for 

consumers. When people have information, they can make better 

decisions. A good financial education never stops. It is a long-term 

proposition. It is not a single class that takes place one time. It is 

learning that takes place over a lifetime so that good decisions can 

be made at the critical time in a person’s life. A good financial education will result in better financial choices and serves to strengthen our economy in the long run. 

Thank you for having me, and we would be happy to answer any 

questions. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Director, for your statement. And now, Commissioner LaCanfora, please proceed with 

your statement. 

TESTIMONY OF MARIANNA LACANFORA,1 ASSISTANT DEPUTY 

COMMISSIONER, RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY POLICY, SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION 

Ms. LACANFORA. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to 

discuss the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) role in the Federal Government’s financial literacy initiatives. I want to especially 

thank you, Senator Akaka, for taking the lead in promoting the importance of financial literacy. As my colleagues on the panel have 

noted, you have long been at the forefront of efforts to encourage 

saving and to ensure that people have the information they need 

to manage their personal finances. In 2009, we paid over $659 billion in Social Security benefits to 

more than 51 million retired or disabled workers, their families 

and survivors. Social Security benefits provide some financial protection for the retired, but the public must understand that these 

benefits were never intended to supply all of their retirement income. 

The Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee 

Benefit Research Institute indicates that less than half of American 

workers have estimated how much money they will need to live 

comfortably during retirement. Similarly, the survey indicated that 

only a fraction of Americans know at what age they are eligible to 


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receive full Social Security retirement benefits. Workers who claim 

benefits at full retirement age will receive their full benefit 

amount, while the monthly benefits of those who claim early will 

be reduced. 

Understanding the implications of retirement age on benefits is 

an important part of retirement planning. Young and middle-age 

workers need to know just how important it is to have other 

sources of retirement income and to start planning for retirement 

early. 

As the agency responsible for delivering and managing the Social 

Security retirement program, we are uniquely positioned to help 

Americans better prepare for retirement and encourage them to 

save. In recognition of that role, we have established a special initiative to encourage saving. This initiative includes three elements: 

Our annual Social Security statement, the Retirement Estimator, 

and our research program. 

We mail more than 150 million Social Security statements each 

year to workers nationwide. Each statement contains personalized 

information about retirement, survivors and disability benefits, including an estimate of the person’s future Social Security benefits 

based on his or her earnings. The statement serves as a useful 

planning tool. 

Our online Retirement Estimator is an interactive tool that uses 

a worker’s earnings history to estimate what his or her retirement 

benefit would be under various scenarios. According to the 2009 

American Customer Satisfaction Index, the Retirement Estimator 

received the highest customer rating of any Federal Government 

Web site. About three million people visited the site in 2009, and 

we expect that number to grow. 

Our research program is developing approaches to improve retirement planning based on an evaluation of what methods and 

tools are effective. Our work supports research by experts outside 

the agency, fosters collaboration with other Federal agencies, and 

develops and tests tools to improve retirement preparedness. 

Our largest research effort is the Financial Literacy Research 

Consortium. In October 2009, we initiated 26 research projects designed to improve program knowledge and encourage saving. We 

closely monitor the progress of each project and engage the expertise of a panel of scholars in the field of financial literacy to provide 

ongoing input. The results of our first-year projects will be reported 

at the Consortium’s first annual conference in November of this 

year. 

We also actively participate in the government-wide Financial 

Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC). We assist the Department of the Treasury by chairing or co-chairing three of the four 

FLEC working groups, including the National Strategy, Research 

and Evaluation, and Communication and Outreach groups. We also 

collaborate with FLEC member organizations to share research 

findings and eliminate duplication of effort. To that end, we are assisting the Treasury Department in the creation of searchable databases of data sources and research findings. We are also working 

with the Treasury Department to develop common evaluation 

metrics, an important part of determining what works. 


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We hope that our efforts will help people to plan effectively for 

a secure retirement. We look forward to continuing to work with 

the Treasury Department and other member agencies on the 

FLEC. 

I want to thank the Subcommittee for inviting me here today and 

we appreciate your continued support for the agency and for our 

mission. I would be happy to answer any questions. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Commissioner LaCanfora. 

Assistant Secretary Barr, we share a firm commitment to improving access to mainstream financial institutions for American 

families. I appreciate your collaborating with me on Title 12 of the 

regulatory reform bill. You have been extremely helpful. Thank you 

also for working with me on remittance consumer protections in 

the Dodd-Frank Conference Report. 

Many of my constituents send a portion of their hard-earned 

wages to relatives living abroad, especially to the Philippines in 

Hawaii’s case. Unfortunately, in far too many cases, they do not 

know for sure how much money their loved ones will receive and 

they find it difficult to resolve problems when they arise. Could you 

please describe how my constituents will benefit from this legislation. 

Mr. BARR. I would be happy to, Mr. Chairman. As you indicated, 

we worked very closely with you and your terrific staff on the 

Dodd-Frank legislation. I think it will make a meaningful difference in the lives of families who are trying to send money 

abroad. It will primarily work in three key ways to help families 

in Hawaii and elsewhere in the United States. 

The first is, right now, it is very often quite difficult for someone 

trying to send money abroad to have certainty about the amount 

of money that their family in the receiving country will ultimately 

get. The disclosures have been not uniform and quite difficult to 

understand. The first step that the remittance provision takes is to 

say that there needs to be a clear and honest disclosure, really for 

the first time, about the actual amount of funds in the recipient’s 

home country in local currency that will be received. I think that 

this will make an enormous difference, not only in helping individuals understand what they can expect their families to receive, but 

also in improving competition in the remittance sector to drive 

down prices and improve the situation for everyone on a level playing field. 

I think the second main way that the legislation will help people 

is, in the past, there has not been a consistent practice for resolving errors that happen in remittances and the legislation makes 

clear that remittances, remittance transfers, are subject now to the 

same kind of strong consumer protection rules that apply to, say, 

an ATM transaction or any other electronic transaction. So error 

resolution procedures will be very strong. It will be much easier for 

consumers to get redress if something goes wrong. 

And the third key area that the legislation promotes is better infrastructure, better work by the Federal Government, by the Treasury Department and by the Federal Reserve and other agencies, in 

helping to build the electronic systems that will lower costs and improve access for Americans trying to send funds abroad, all over 

the world. 


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So I think that the legislation that you crafted will make an 

enormous difference in the lives of families. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Assistant Secretary Barr. 

Deputy Director Griffin, social networks are a great way to reach 

out to Federal employees, especially younger employees. In previous testimony, OPM stated it was planning to examine the role 

the new social networking media, such as Twitter, can play in reinforcing retirement readiness messages. Over the past year, has 

OPM taken steps to increase awareness of the need to plan for retirement through the use of social networking media? 

Ms. GRIFFIN. Yes. As a matter of fact, we have. We used Facebook last year during the Open Season, in the fall, for the health 

benefits, flexible spending, the dental and the vision program. We 

are anxiously awaiting FedSpace to be launched by General Services Administration (GSA), and we anticipate that it will be another way of reaching the Federal employees. We are actually 

using Twitter. I can’t say I know a lot about that myself. [Laughter.] 

But for those people that use Twitter, which I think they are all 

sitting up there—— [Laughter.] 

And other social media, we are going to use those as alternative 

ways of getting information to people. We certainly have a lot of 

experience reaching baby boomers through traditional means with 

benefits and retirement readiness information, but we are really 

experimenting with all the different aspects of social media to provide the information to a whole new set of people that won’t really 

look at, or value some of the traditional ways that we have transmitted this information in the past. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you, Deputy Director Griffin. 

Assistant Secretary Dann-Messier, I appreciated the Administration’s support of funding for the Excellence in Economic Education 

(EEE) program for fiscal year 2010. However, I am disappointed 

that separate funding was not included in the Department’s request for fiscal year 2011. EEE’s annual appropriation of $1.5 million has been a good use of funds because it leverages non-Federal 

funding and contributes to our economy’s long-term health. I am 

proud of the innovative work that the Hawaii Council on Economic 

Education has done as just one of the many sub-grants made possible by the EEE’s funding to the Council for Economic Education. 

Assistant Secretary Dann-Messier, how have the EEE resources 

been used? 

Ms. DANN-MESSIER. Mr. Chairman, it has been used for teacher 

training, development of instructional materials, development and 

dissemination of assessments, and serving the States, among other 

activities. And there is absolutely no question these activities have 

contributed to our shared goal of increasing financial literacy. 

I am looking at the way we are going about funding in the future 

for financial literacy as consolidating towards expansion because 

we are going to be putting 40 million additional dollars, which is 

a 17 percent increase, by making sure that we serve students 

across the spectrum, K through 12, career and technical education, 

and adult education. And as you know, we are proposing to consolidate programs into a handful of larger programs that will come up, 

as I mentioned before in my testimony, to the $265 million pool of 


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funds called the Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education, of which financial literacy would be a very large 

part, and that is a $40 million increase and a 17 percent increase 

in funds. So you need to know that we are deeply committed to increasing services and programs for financial education and financial literacy. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, and I really appreciate it. 

I must tell you, it is moving and expanding and it looks good to 

me. 

Ms. DANN-MESSIER. I am glad to hear that, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much for what you are doing. 

Ms. DANN-MESSIER. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Director Thompson, I am very interested in the 

results of the FDIC’s small-dollar loan pilot program. This innovative pilot has resulted in a model or template of product elements 

that can produce a safe, affordable, and feasible small-dollar loan. 

In your testimony, you noted that this template can be copied easily as it is relatively simple and inexpensive to implement. My 

question to you is what must be done to increase the number of 

banks that offer affordable small-dollar loan products? 

Ms. THOMPSON. Thank you for asking the question. We started 

this pilot in February 2008 because we wanted to show that banks 

could offer alternatives to the high-cost financial products and services that were available for low- and middle-income persons. About 

28 banks participated in the pilot. We started with 31 and there 

were some banks that went in and out of the pilot. 

The survey, completed over a couple of months ago, confirmed 

that banks can offer these products. And one of the things that we 

need to do is make sure that we highlight some of the results of 

the survey and prototypes. A diverse range of banks participated 

in the pilot—in terms of the asset size and the communities served. 

So the template can be adopted to work for different communities. 

For example, we had one bank that required financial education 

and we had another bank that didn’t, and so taking this pilot and 

using it as just a model and modifying it to suit the particular 

needs of the community, I think, worked. 

The other thing that we could do as regulators is remove some 

of the perceived barriers that exist with regard to the bankers’ perception of these small-dollar loans. We need to highlight that they 

can get Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) credit and we also 

need to highlight that, especially for loans that come with financial 

education, the default ratios are equal to that of traditional unsecured loans. There are a lot of things that we learned from the 

pilot that we could take as regulators and bankers and highlight 

to show the successes of the pilot program. 

One of the things that the bankers said that they learned was 

that they could take these small-dollar loans and develop long-term 

relationships and sell other products. Also, some of the small-dollar 

loans had their lines increased so they were higher-dollar amounts. 

A long-term beneficial relationship can be developed with these 

borrowers. But, I think we need to market the availability of this 

program and some of the benefits from both the regulatory side 

and the banking side. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you, Director Thompson. 


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Commissioner LaCanfora, I would like to commend SSA for establishing a research program, the Financial Literacy Research 

Consortium (FLRC), as part of SSA’s financial literacy initiatives. 

I am hopeful that this effort will result in innovative educational 

materials and programs to help more Americans achieve a secure 

retirement. Do you have any preliminary findings on this effort? 

Ms. LACANFORA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are really 

pleased about the Financial Literacy Research Consortium, as well, 

and we share your hope that the findings from our current studies 

will not only help us inform our educational efforts with respect to 

Social Security, but will also be useful to our partner agencies in 

the FLEC as they develop their own materials with respect to educating people on financial issues. 

It is a little bit early in terms of findings because we just started 

our projects in September of last year, and we will have the final 

results of the first year projects in November. That said, I can tell 

you that we have been working through a preliminary survey using 

both telephone and Internet across 4,000 respondents to create 

some baseline knowledge. We want to identify the gaps in financial 

literacy, both as it relates to Social Security and otherwise; across 

age groups, and across ethnic groups, between genders. It is important for us to learn where the gaps are so we can customize materials to target different groups. 

In terms of initial findings, we conducted focus groups and in 

those focus groups we learned that many people respond to visual 

displays. One of the things they told us about Social Security benefits is that they would like to see us display retirement ages in 

order from age 62 right up until age 70 and the corresponding benefit amount that they would get if they elected to start receiving 

benefits at that age. That is not how we now present our benefit 

structure in the Social Security statement, but it is something we 

are going to test. 

There are various things that we are learning which we will then 

test on a subset of the survey population to see how people respond 

to the new ways of the new materials we put out, what they retain, 

what they find to be most useful, and then, ultimately, what impacts behavior most directly. Then we will take the results of that 

information and we will modify existing materials that Social Security uses. We will share those findings with our partners across 

agencies and develop new materials, as needed. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you so much, Commissioner LaCanfora. 

I have a question for Assistant Secretary Barr. Modifying disclosures for financial products has the potential to empower consumers and investors to make better informed decisions if they are 

provided with meaningful and relevant information. My Credit 

Card Minimum Payment Warning Act, which was enacted as part 

of the Credit Card Act, requires additional disclosures during the 

course of making minimum payments. I am also proud to have included an amendment in the Dodd-Frank bill to provide clarified 

SEC authority for pre-sale disclosures for financial services and 

products. What else can be done to make disclosures for financial 

products and services more meaningful for consumers and investors? 


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Mr. BARR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the two examples 

you gave are really important examples of the way that the legislation that you worked on, I think, will make a big difference again 

to families. The ability to be able to see on your statement how 

much it would cost if you only made the minimum payments and 

how long it would take if you did so, as well as information about 

alternatives that cost less and reach the zero balance sooner, I 

think are already making a big difference in helping people take 

more control over their financial lives. It makes it easier for consumers to make decisions that are better for themselves and for 

their families. 

It is exactly the kind of disclosure that I think we want to see 

more of in the future, that is not simply adding more information 

to the consumer, but presenting it in a way that resonates with 

their lives and helps them make better choices. I think that kind 

of disclosure, not the dumping of more information but improving 

consumer understanding, is an absolutely critical path forward. 

As others on the panel have mentioned, one way we do better on 

that and that informed the provision that you were able to bring 

into law now, is consumer testing, paying attention to how consumers actually make financial decisions and then act or don’t act 

on the information that they receive. And having that kind of 

sound empirical evidence, I think needs to be at the root of any decisions we make about disclosure, not based on some abstract 

model of how we all make decisions, but based on actual information of the kind the other panelists have mentioned. 

I think that will make an enormous difference in making 

progress in the future, and the new agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that the Dodd-Frank bill authorizes, will 

have full authority to improve disclosures across the consumer financial marketplace through consumer testing, through improvements, through merging of Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act 

(RESPA) and Truth in Lending Act (TILA) disclosures, for example, 

to come up with one simple mortgage disclosure form. These are all 

enormous improvements. 

And I think as you mentioned in the investor protection context, 

giving the SEC the tools it needs to improve investor education is 

absolutely critical, as well. The pre-sale disclosures are, again, an 

important example of how we need to provide individuals with information at the time that they need it and not when it is too late. 

I just think that is going to be really critical in the months and 

years ahead. So thank you again for your leadership on those initiative. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you for your response. I would like to ask 

you another question, Assistant Secretary Barr. The level of home 

ownership in Hawaii is one of the lowest in the Nation. Therefore, 

I am proud to have authorized and subsequently secured funding 

for a pre-home ownership and financial education demonstration 

project in Hawaii. Also, as you mentioned in your written testimony, CDFI funding was awarded early this year for other financial education and counseling pilot projects authorized by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. What is being done to ensure meaningful evaluation of these demonstrations? 


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Mr. BARR. Mr. Chairman, as you could tell from my earlier remark, I am a firm believer in really sound empirical research and 

evaluation as a basis of proceeding on counseling and financial education and programming more generally. So we have been taking 

a hard look at the pilots that have gone on before. We are in the 

middle of a serious evaluation of those pilots. We have plans for 

doing similar kinds of work on the pilots going forward, and I think 

the learning that we take from those experiences will help us shape 

better public policy more broadly. So the pilots, I think, do very 

good things on the ground in the communities that they serve and 

they also help the whole country do better at the work we are 

doing together. 

Senator AKAKA. Assistant Secretary Barr, I want to thank you 

for announcing the passage of the bill. It is going to make a significant, positive difference for our country. 

I understand that there is business that you must attend to related to the Dodd-Frank bill passed today and I want to thank you 

for your efforts in helping us do that, as well. And so let me just 

say, you are dismissed. 

Mr. BARR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you again for 

your leadership and friendship on all these issues. I look forward 

to much more work together. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you for being on the panel. 

Deputy Director Griffin, I continue to appreciate all of the work 

done by OPM to fulfill its mandate to better educate the Federal 

workforce. What is the status of the establishment of benchmarks 

and goals for OPM’s financial literacy efforts. 

Ms. GRIFFIN. Well, Senator, I think you know that last year, we 

mentioned that there were some measures that we were working 

on as part of our new strategic plan. We have shifted the focus 

slightly from measuring employees’ benefits knowledge to really 

identifying the roles and responsibilities of the benefits offices. I 

think we are starting to realize that our best approach is to focus 

on delivering the best we can to the agencies because they are on 

the front lines delivering the education to new employees as well 

as existing employees. We are defining standards for the employee 

benefit offices and measuring the results and they will be published in the Benefit Scorecard. 

Additionally, the Retirement Readiness Index, which is based on 

scores on the Retirement Readiness Profile, will provide us with 

more information. We released a beta test version of the Retirement Readiness Profile last winter and we are currently incorporating the feedback that we are getting from the agencies who 

used the beta version and we will be releasing an updated Retirement Readiness Profile this fall. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. 

Assistant Secretary Dann-Messier, the ability of students to finance and pay for their education is critical in order to support a 

skilled workforce and ensure national competitiveness. Adequate financial literacy for students and their families is an important 

component of aiding this effort. How does financial knowledge of 

students and their families influence the ability of students to complete their education? 


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Ms. DANN-MESSIER. Mr. Chairman, it has a profound impact on 

whether even a student considers going into college and accessing 

college, never mind completing college. In my work in the community at Dorcas Place and as a member of the State Board of Governors for Higher Education, we repeatedly heard stories from students and families who thought they couldn’t even apply to college 

because it was so expensive. And so this is why financial literacy 

and financial education is so very important, to make sure that our 

families know that there are resources available to assist them in 

paying for college and completing college. 

All folks are hearing in the press is how unaffordable college is, 

and so they assume if they are low-income that certainly speaks to 

them and their inability to go to college. And we incorporated in 

Dorcas Place in our family literacy program making sure that we 

embedded financial literacy within our program so that families 

understood and our students understood that there really were, in 

fact, opportunities for them to go to college. 

I also found in my experience that many low-income communities 

were adverse to taking out loans and they assume that if they had 

to go to college, they would have to take out a loan. And so that 

was part of our work in the community, and we used the mainstream financial institutions to come in and also help our students 

to understand what options were available to them. 

And then we are not surprised, but there was a recent report 

that showed that 64 percent of the students took out costly private 

loans and they had not yet even exhausted their eligibility for more 

flexible and affordable Federal loans. So we have to do a much better job of educating students and their families and our adult students, and that is part of our finance and financial literacy programs, that there are resources available and that they can, in fact, 

go to college and complete college. It has been a huge barrier. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. 

Director Thompson, I commend FDIC for working last year with 

the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey to conduct a 

National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households. This 

landmark survey provides a wealth of previously unavailable data 

on unbanked and underbanked households. I have shared the data 

with my colleagues as we have worked to advance Title 12. Please 

share with the Subcommittee how this data is being utilized. 

Ms. THOMPSON. Certainly. The survey uncovered that almost one 

in four households in the United States were either unbanked or 

underbanked. When we asked the unbanked households whether 

they had a bank account or have ever had a bank account, it was 

for the unbanked half and half. We also asked the underbanked 

whether they were using alternative financial services. Many of 

them said yes, which really equates to the people that can least afford paying a higher cost for financial products and services. 

What we are trying to do at the FDIC is come up with safe, affordable, and easy-to-understand products so that people can come 

into the banking system and feel comfortable using these products. 

Our Chairman, Sheila Bair, has established the Chairman’s Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion (ComE-IN). Members include academicians, regulators, banks, community groups, and consumer groups. They talk about ways to bring people into the bankVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:49 Oct 26, 2010 Jkt 058401 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\58401.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT

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ing system. Through the ComE-IN, we are developing a model template so that people can have access to a basic checking and savings account. 

Also, as I mentioned earlier, the FDIC’s small-dollar loan program provides for institutions to provide access to affordable smalldollar credit. 

Additionally, the FDIC has established partnerships in about 14 

communities around the country. We call those partnerships the 

Alliance for Economic Inclusion. These partnerships include regulators, banks, and community groups that go into the communities 

and try to bring households into the banking sector. We provide financial education through our Money Smart program, and encourage the banks to offer safe and affordable products. 

We are also working on several ‘‘Bank-On’’ initiatives through 

cities around the country and we are partnering with the National 

League of Cities to implement that strategy. 

The Money Smart Alliance has about 1,500 members around the 

Nation. Many of these members go out and teach and train people 

on banking, banking services, and financial literacy. We think that 

this work is very important. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much. 

Commissioner LaCanfora, I want to commend SSA for enhancing 

the 2009 Annual Social Security Statement to provide additional 

information relevant to beneficiaries. Will SSA be conducting an 

evaluation to measure the impact of these changes on influencing 

worker behavior? 

Ms. LACANFORA. As I mentioned in my testimony, the Social Security statement is part of the cornerstone of our outreach and educational efforts. We started sending it out in 1995 and we send out 

150 million each year. So you don’t just get a statement once in 

your lifetime; you get it every year. We are hoping that by sending 

it out on an annual basis that it will, in fact, help educate people 

and inspire them to plan for retirement. 

We are always looking for ways to improve the Social Security 

statement. We made a couple of changes last year, and there are 

probably even more ways to enhance the statement so that it resonates more with people across age groups, across ethic groups, and 

between genders. 

We have a couple of research projects that we think will help inform the statement and help us understand better how people best 

take in information, what works for them and what makes sense. 

So yes, we do intend and we have been all along looking at the 

statement and the effects of the changes that we make to the statement. We will make that information publicly available and be 

happy to share it with anyone. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. I want to thank this panel for being 

here with us and updating us with your responses to our questions. 

We may have further questions for you that we will submit in writing. So again, thank you. This is a great day for the United States 

of America, and we need to take advantage of this opportunity and 

really move ahead to help the people of our country. Thank you 

very much. 

Mr. BARR. Thank you. 

Ms. GRIFFIN. Thank you. 


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1The prepared statement of Ms. Roper appears in the Appendix on page 60. 

Ms. DANN-MESSIER. Thank you. 

Ms. THOMPSON. Thank you. 

Ms. LACANFORA. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. I want to welcome our second panel of witnesses, 

Barbara Roper, who is Director of Investor Protection at the Consumer Federation of America, and I also understand, Ms. Roper, 

that you have a son, Nick, who is here. Nick, would you raise your 

hand? Hi. Welcome, too. We also have Lynne Egan, Deputy Securities Commissioner for the Montana Office of State Auditor, and 

who is appearing on behalf of the North American Securities Administrators Association. 

As you know, it is the custom of this Subcommittee to swear in 

all witnesses. I would ask you to stand and raise your right hand. 

Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give the Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, 

so help you, God? 

Ms. ROPER. I do. 

Ms. EGAN. I do. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Let it be noted in the record that the 

witnesses answered in the affirmative. 

I want you to know that your full statement will be made part 

of the record, and I would also like to remind you to limit your oral 

remarks to 5 minutes. 

Ms. Roper, will you please proceed with your statement. 

TESTIMONY OF BARBARA ROPER,1 DIRECTOR OF INVESTOR 

PROTECTION, CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA 

Ms. ROPER. Thank you. For more than three decades, Consumer 

Federation of America (CFA) has sought to promote effective financial education to increase financial literacy and improve financial 

decisionmaking. However, my own work at CFA has been primarily 

in the area of advocacy, working to promote policies that achieved 

the same goal, but through a different route. If financial literacy 

is aimed at educating consumers and investors to make sound financial decisions, my work as an investor advocate has tended to 

focus on ending the industry practices and market flaws that undermine that goal. 

Too often, these two areas of activity have proceeded independently of each other without adequate consideration for how they 

naturally interact. I realize in saying that I am preaching to the 

choir because there is no Member of Congress who has done more 

to work on both sides of these two issues, the literacy and the consumer protection side, than you have, and we greatly appreciate 

that, Chairman Akaka. 

In my written testimony, I cover several lessons that we have 

learned about how these two features interact. In my oral statement, I would like to just cover a few of the key points. 

My first is that financial literacy needs to be treated not as an 

end in itself, but as a means to an end. In other words, our goal 

isn’t or should not be simply to empower consumers to make informed financial decisions, but to empower them to make sound financial decisions. And thus in measuring the success of Federal fiVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:49 Oct 26, 2010 Jkt 058401 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\58401.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT

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nancial literacy efforts, we should look not just at whether they 

provide consumers with the information they need, but with whether they result in substantial positive behavioral change, especially 

in areas that are crucial to consumers’ financial well-being. 

In making that assessment, it is essential that we recognize that 

statistically significant change is not necessarily socially significant 

change. So if we increase socially desirable practice, such as creating an emergency fund from, say, 20 percent of the population to 

25 percent, that would certainly be statistically significant, but it 

would not be adequate. For these kinds of financial behaviors that 

are crucial to consumer well-being, we need to aspire to spread that 

behavior to a large majority of the population. 

If behavior change is the goal, moreover, then more thought 

needs to be put into determining what messages are most likely to 

motivate consumers to change their behavior. In other words, financial education efforts need to focus not just on the information 

that consumers need, but on what one or two factors are most likely to motivate them to act. As the Federal Government develops 

and implements financial literacy programs, it needs to incorporate 

both front-end research designed to identify key motivators and 

back-end assessment to determine a program’s impact on consumer 

behavior, and we greatly appreciate the fact that the investor literacy provision that you included in the financial reform bill provides just that kind of research. 

Financial education efforts will always be swimming against the 

current, however, if they are not supported by regulatory policies 

that support sound financial decisionmaking. Too often, our regulatory policies either do not support that end or actively undermine 

it. To achieve our goal in such cases, we need to think not just 

about how to educate consumers to make sound decisions in that 

sub-optimum financial world, but about what policy changes are 

necessary to make consumer education both possible and effective, 

and the following are among the obvious areas, I believe, where 

policies should be reexamined to ensure that they support the ability of financially literate consumers to make sound financial decisions. 

The first is disclosure. If we want consumers to make sound financial decisions, we need to ensure that they receive the necessary information in a form that is accessible and understandable 

at a time when it can be factored into their purchase decision. 

However, most financial disclosures fail at least one of these tests 

of effective disclosure. Often, consumers receive the relevant information, but obscured in massive fine print or conveyed in overly 

technical language that makes the information all but impenetrable, or delivered after the purchase, as is typical with mutual 

fund prospectus. Even point-of-sale disclosures may come too late 

if the purchase decision has already effectively been made. 

Thus, for financial literacy efforts to succeed, we need sweeping 

revisions to our financial disclosures across product and industry 

lines with an eye toward designing timely disclosures that not only 

provide the relevant information but do so in a way that is designed to motivate consumers and investors to act on that information. 


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1The prepared statement of Ms. Egan appears in the Appendix on page 69. 

Complexity—it is unreasonable to expect financial education to 

equip consumers and investors to understand concepts that are too 

complex to be understood by anyone but a highly trained financial 

professional. In my written testimony, I illustrated this point with 

an excerpt from a prospectus for an equity indexed annuity, but I 

could just as easily have chosen the disclosures about a mutual 

fund’s investment strategy or any of a number of other factors that 

we ask consumers to carefully assess when they are selecting products. 

Educating consumers that they need to assess factors that they 

cannot comprehend is a waste of time and energy. If we can’t reasonably expect to educate consumers to understand some factor 

that we consider crucial to an informed purchase decision, we must 

adopt other regulatory policy options that ensure that the marketplace conditions support beneficial choices and limit the potential 

for harmful choices. 

So in conclusion, if our goal is to help consumers and investors 

make sound financial decisions, the first responsibility of the Federal Government is to ensure that the financial marketplace supports that goal. Are good choices available? Even where good 

choices are available, is the market overwhelmed by bad choices? 

Do the incentives in the system encourage the intermediaries that 

consumers and investors rely on to act for or against their customers’ best interests? And are the disclosures consumers and investors rely on presented in a way and at a point in the process 

that encourages informed decisionmaking? 

Until you resolve those public policy questions, financial literacy 

efforts will be fighting a hopeless battle. Only when the regulatory 

policies themselves support sound financial decisionmaking can financial education be truly effective in promoting that goal. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Ms. Roper, for your statement. 

Now I will call on Ms. Egan to proceed with your statement. But 

before you do, I just want to let you know that Senator Tester 

would like to have been here personally to greet you today, but is 

not able to make it because of a schedule conflict. I wanted to tell 

you that he was thinking of you and wanted to be here. But as you 

know, the Senate has so many events scheduled, it is difficult to 

be every where you want. But he wanted to greet you here, so I 

will do that for him. 

Ms. EGAN. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Will you please proceed with your statement. 

TESTIMONY OF LYNNE EGAN,1 DEPUTY SECURITIES COMMISSIONER, MONTANA OFFICE OF STATE AUDITOR, ON BEHALF 

OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SECURITIES ADMINISTRATORS 

ASSOCIATION 

Ms. EGAN. Thank you, Chairman Akaka. I am honored to present 

the views of the State securities regulators on how to empower 

Americans to make informed financial decisions. 

State securities regulators recognized long ago that education is 

a key weapon in the fight against investment fraud, and as a reVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:49 Oct 26, 2010 Jkt 058401 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\58401.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT

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sult, the North American Securities Administrators Association 

(NASAA) Investor Education Section was created in 1997 by our 

Board of Directors to help support our members. Most securities 

regulators have established investor education divisions within 

their agencies. The result is an effective network of dedicated professionals delivering financial education in person at the grassroots 

level. Last year, NASAA members reached over 250,000 consumers 

through more than 1,800 investor education presentations. 

NASAA actively participates with Financial Literacy Education 

Commission events that have brought individuals and organizations together to discuss ideas and outreach. In the past, the FLEC 

suffered from a small number of staff and limited funding that provided constraints to its effectiveness. While the FLEC has taken 

positive steps, the progress has been slow in integrating the Commission’s national strategy for financial literacy. 

One challenge to be addressed is how to organize the existing financial literacy program of the FLEC’s members and how best to 

reach a consensus on a harmonized message. Another challenge is 

disseminating the program’s information to the public from a centralized location in Washington, DC. In this regard, NASAA’s members should be utilized by the FLEC to mobilize their respective 

grassroots networks to reach more people. 

NASAA was pleased when the FLEC formed the National Financial Education Network to create an open dialogue and advance financial education at the State and local level. Ongoing activity has 

been limited and NASAA encourages the FLEC to move forward in 

establishing effective ways of connecting State and local parties, 

both electronically and through face-to-face meetings throughout 

the year. 

The President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability also offers an opportunity to coordinate the efforts of NASAA’s grassroots 

network with the initiatives undertaken at the national level. We 

recommend a State securities regulator be appointed by President 

Obama to serve on the Council to utilize the resources and experience of State securities regulators to pursue new programs and 

partnerships. 

NASAA members provide unbiased, relevant, and timely information for anyone interested in the investment markets, which is 

critical in light of the notoriety of recent investment frauds. Our 

members also disseminate this information to the public at no cost 

through our vast network of Investment Education Coordinators 

across North America. 

One example of how FLEC could facilitate this outreach is to coordinate joint efforts with both the Treasury Department and State 

officials as participants. That way, we could leverage resources and 

members of the audience have a local point of contact for future 

questions and requests for information. 

To better frame the nature of our work, I would like to share 

highlights of our financial education initiatives. In Montana, a 

State vast in size and small in population, we have found the most 

effective way to reach our population is in face-to-face meetings. 

We have an investor education campaign entitled, ‘‘Securities 

Fraud: How to Smell a Rat,’’ that we take on the road each September and May, traveling thousands of miles to remote locations 


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throughout the State. Events are held primarily at senior centers, 

include a meal, an hour presentation on securities fraud, and a 

wrap-up game of Smell a Rat Bingo that tests the seniors on the 

fraud presentation material. During this past year, our staff has 

driven nearly 4,000 miles and has provided to thousands of Montana seniors the tools necessary to protect themselves from financial fraud. 

Additionally, NASAA has partnered with American Association 

of Retired Persons (AARP) to combat the rising investment fraud 

among seniors with the Free Lunch Monitor (FLM) program, which 

seeks to empower seniors to fight fraud. This national campaign is 

designed to monitor whether senior investors are being pressured 

into purchasing inappropriate or unsuitable investments, such as 

equity indexed annuities. The FLM program gives individuals an 

opportunity to fight back against unscrupulous promoters by reporting to their State securities authorities possibilities of questionable investment practices in their communities. 

In times of heightened deployment, U.S. service members have 

become targets of financial scams. My colleague in New Jersey created a fraud prevention guide tailored to the military called ‘‘A Salute to Smart Investing.’’ The guide acts as a resource for military 

members with information on safe investing, balancing risk and return, retirement planning, red flags for fraud, scams that target 

the military, and a list of State securities regulators nationwide. 

This guide has been distributed to more than 90,000 military members. 

Teaching youth the principles of sound investing and fraud prevention is the thrust of a NASAA-produced program targeted to 

high school students entitled, ‘‘FSI: Fraud Scene Investigator.’’ FSI 

is an interactive online investor education program that teaches 

and empowers students how to detect and stop investment fraud. 

The FSI program is designed to help students learn how to fight 

fraud firsthand by delving into newspaper stock tables, researching 

companies through online news, and deciphering the truth about 

an investment from fraudulent sales pitches. NASAA’s grassroots 

network is working with educators to integrate the FSI program 

into schools across the Nation. 

In conclusion, State Securities Regulators have traditionally been 

and remain an extremely effective resource in the pursuit of greater financial literacy. We are the front lines of financial education 

initiatives in every State, translating Wall Street to Main Street 

for small investors throughout this country. NASAA and its members welcome the opportunity to work more closely with the FLEC 

and Subcommittee members in their ongoing efforts to improve the 

level of financial literacy throughout our Nation. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you for your statement, Ms. Egan. 

I was greatly disappointed that a harmful provision was included 

in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection 

Act Conference Report that will exempt equity index annuities 

from securities laws. Could you please describe why this will be 

harmful to investors? Ms. Roper. 

Ms. ROPER. I will be happy to start. As you know, we share your 

concern and greatly appreciate the efforts that you made to prevent 

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cate consumers to understand things that are too complex. You also 

can’t educate consumers to understand things that don’t make any 

sense. 

And regulating products that are sold in competition with each 

other under different standards so that in some places they are 

protected, say, by a fiduciary duty for advice or by limits on excessive compensation as the securities law provide, in other cases they 

are not. You cannot educate consumers to protect themselves 

against the abuses that will inevitably result. And this is a case 

where we know that the marketing abuses are rampant. 

And so we have now adopted an approach that says, in an area 

of the market where we know consumers are vulnerable and market abuses are rampant, we are going to deny them the services 

of securities regulators to help police those abuses, the kind of disclosures they would get under securities laws protections, the securities fraud protections, the excessive compensation protections, for 

no good sense that I can see. And, in fact, our policies need to be 

going the opposite direction. We need to be looking to ensure that 

products and services that are offered in competition with each 

other to serve comparable functions need to be subject to comparable regulations. Otherwise, you will never be able to educate 

consumers to understand that. 

Senator AKAKA. Commissioner Egan, would you like to comment? 

Ms. EGAN. I would again like to thank you, Chairman Akaka, for 

your efforts in opposing that particular amendment. We as the securities regulators were greatly dismayed when we saw the opportunity to police that particular product leave our radar screens. In 

Montana alone, we have about 30 percent of our complaints, and 

we receive several hundred a year, come from senior citizens that 

have invested in equity indexed annuities. They are not given full 

disclosure. They do not understand the products. They are unsuitable products. And it will be more difficult now for us to protect 

these individuals because of the result, as a result of that amendment. 

We will do what we can to help them, but the products are high 

commission products. They are very complicated. They change constantly throughout the life of the product and they are oftentimes 

products that are flipped over and over again. But we will do what 

we can and we hope that possibly down the road we will see some 

changes. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. This, again, is to receive comments 

from both of you. Section 917 of the Financial Reform Conference 

Report requires a SEC study on the existing level of financial literacy among retail investors. It also mandates that the SEC develop a strategy to improve the financial literacy of investors. 

Could you both please share with the Subcommittee why you believe that this provision is important. Ms. Roper. 

Ms. ROPER. Absolutely. This was a provision in the bill we 

strongly supported. We know from testing that has already been 

done, including testing that we, in CFA, have done on mutual fund 

investors and testing others have done that the level of financial 

literacy among investors doesn’t begin to approach the level that 

you would need to make an informed financial, or an informed investment decision. 


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So we know that there is a gap in understanding there and it 

is in an area where we have had financial education efforts for 

years. We did a project on mutual fund purchase practices where 

there is almost unanimous agreement on what appropriate purchase practices should look like. It has been the subject of education for years. And when you then test investor behavior, you 

find that their conduct doesn’t remotely resemble what the experts 

agree they should be doing. 

So what we need to do is use this study. I think this study provides just a tremendous opportunity to understand what is working, where the areas are where investors are most vulnerable, what 

is likely to be most effective, and then to not just design investor 

education around that, which is absolutely essential, but to go back 

and look at the policies, as I say, about disclosure in particular to 

ensure that they actually support informed decisionmaking. I just 

think the study, properly conducted, provides a tremendous opportunity to fundamentally rethink the way we approach that whole 

issue. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Ms. Egan. 

Ms. EGAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I agree with Ms. Roper. 

I have always taken the position that it would be nice to regulate 

the investor because then we could test the investor and see what 

level of sophistication he or she may rise to, to make a determination of what investment products are suitable for that person. 

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case, and I believe that investors 

many times will never reach a level of financial literacy that is 

requisite to certain investment products, and that is why the Fiduciary Duty Standard was so important. The disclosures investors 

receive are oftentimes written in language that is almost unintelligible to many people. That is why they are providing a professional 

to provide them with investment advice. 

So I don’t think we can ever fully hope that investors will be 

completely financially literate. I think we have to write the disclosure in plain English. We need to be more clear in what we are 

talking about, require the industry to be more clear in what it is 

talking about or what it discloses to investors. And we need to impose a standard that the industry make these full disclosures. 

Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Ms. Roper, we share a commitment 

to establishing a meaningful fiduciary duty for brokers that provide 

personalized investment advice. What must be done to ensure that 

the authority provided to the SEC in the Wall Street Reform bill 

is implemented in a manner that will adequately protect investors? 

Ms. ROPER. Well, you are absolutely right. It is actually an issue 

that I have been working on since I started at CFA in 1986, so we 

didn’t get there fast, but it looks like maybe we got there, which 

we greatly appreciate the support that you provided for getting 

that provision through into the final bill. 

As Ms. Egan says, you can’t adequately educate investors to understand the complex issues that go into some of the decisions that 

they are required to make for a sound retirement. So how you regulate the intermediaries they rely on becomes absolutely essential. 

We now have authority for the SEC to adopt a standard for brokers when they give investment advice that would require them to 


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act in their customers’ best interest, just as other investment advisors, financial planners, are already required to do. The first step 

in getting that done is going to be to ensure that the study that 

the SEC conducts, which is on a very short time frame—6 months 

they have to do the study that lays the groundwork for this—is 

going to be to ensure that the study is unbiased. I am absolutely 

convinced that an unbiased study supports the imposition of a fiduciary duty on brokers. But this is a problem that is the result of 

poor policy decisions at the SEC over a number of decades, and so 

we need to ensure that the study looks strictly at the issue of what 

the standards should be rather than trying to make excuses for 

past decisions that helped create the current confusion. 

I am convinced that three of the Commissioners, Chairman 

Schapiro and two of the other Commissioners, have made public 

statements that they are supportive of imposing a fiduciary duty. 

They are committed to that. So the fact that the rulemaking authority is permissive rather than mandatory does not necessarily 

concern me. But there will be, I think, some need for the Senate, 

Members of Congress, to keep an eye on that process as it moves 

along to ensure, with all of the many responsibilities that the SEC 

now has before it to implement this new bill, that this one doesn’t 

get lost in the process and that it proceeds in a way that really 

puts investors’ interests first. 

Senator AKAKA. Ms. Egan, what are your thoughts? 

Ms. EGAN. I would mirror what Ms. Roper says. I was totally 

dumbfounded to think that anybody would even consider not putting the investor first. They should always come first in any financial decision. Objectiveness is key here. I think that those that are 

conducting the study need to step aside from the relationship and 

look strictly at the facts. It is the investor that is paying for the 

product and the investor’s interests need to be placed first. Thank 

you. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate your responses. It is good to hear from people who deal with investors and 

consumers, so I thank you very much for your responses. 

I feel this has been a good hearing on the day that we passed 

the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 

Conference Report. Without question, it will certainly help the people of this country. 

This hearing will be adjourned, but the hearing record will be 

open for one week for additional statements or questions other 

Members may have. Again, I want to thank our panelists for being 

here and for your responses, which will be helpful to this Subcommittee. 

The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:32 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 


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