I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 392 
To establish a grant program to enhance the financial and retirement literacy 
of mid-life and older Americans and to reduce financial abuse and fraud 
among such Americans, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 26, 2005 
Mr. LYNCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To establish a grant program to enhance the financial and 
retirement literacy of mid-life and older Americans and 
to reduce financial abuse and fraud among such Ameri-
cans, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Retirement Security 
Education Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following:
(1) Improving financial literacy is a critical and 
complex task for Americans of all ages. 
(2) Low levels of savings and high levels of per-
sonal and real estate debt are serious problems for 
many households nearing retirement. Personal sav-
ings rates have fallen to a dangerously low 2 per-
cent. 
(3) Approximately half of working Americans 
have any form of pension coverage. Today, just 21 
percent of workers have defined benefit coverage and 
just 27 percent of workers are enrolled in 401(k)s. 
(4) 
Because 
women 
have 
longer 
life 
expectancies, the number of poor older women is 
more than twice the number of poor older men. 
Studies have also found that there is a substantial 
gender gap in all sources of retirement income in-
cluding Social Security, pensions, savings and earn-
ings from post-retirement employment. 
(5) The more limited timeframe that mid-life 
and older individuals and families have to assess the 
realities of their individual circumstances, to recover 
from counter-productive choices and decision-making 
processes, and to benefit from more informed finan-
cial practices, has immediate impact and near term
consequences for Americans nearing or of retirement 
age. 
(6) Research indicates that there are now 4 
basic sources of retirement income security. Those 
sources are social security benefits, pensions and 
savings, healthcare insurance coverage, and, for an 
increasing number of older individuals, necessary 
earnings from working during ‘‘retirement’’ years. 
(7) The Congressional Budget Office has found 
that about a quarter of baby-boomer households 
have so far failed to accumulate significant savings 
and that they appear likely to depend entirely on 
government benefits in retirement. 
(8) Over the next 30 years, the number of older 
individuals in the United States is expected to dou-
ble, from 35,000,000 to nearly 75,000,000, and 
long-term care costs are expected to skyrocket. 
(9) Over the next 25 years, the number of indi-
viduals over 65 years of age requiring long term care 
services is expected to double to approximately 12 
million. 
(10) Fraud against older individuals, including 
telemarketing schemes, predatory lending, identity 
theft and Internet fraud has risen dramatically.
SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM TO ENHANCE FINANCIAL AND RE-
TIREMENT LITERACY AND REDUCE FINAN-
CIAL ABUSE AND FRAUD AMONG MID-LIFE 
AND OLDER AMERICANS. 
(a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary is authorized to 
award grants to eligible entities to provide financial edu-
cation programs to mid-life and older individuals who re-
side in local communities in order to— 
(1) enhance and promote knowledge of financial 
issues, long-term care, and retirement issues among 
such individuals; and 
(2) reduce financial abuse and fraud, including 
telemarketing, mortgage, and pension fraud, among 
such individuals. 
(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity is eligible to re-
ceive a grant under this section if such entity is— 
(1) a State agency or area agency on aging; or 
(2) a non-profit organization organized under 
section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code with 
a proven record of providing— 
(A) services to mid-life and older individ-
uals; 
(B) consumer awareness programs; or 
(C) supportive services to low-income fami-
lies.
(c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity desiring a grant 
under this section shall submit an application to the Sec-
retary in such form and containing such information as 
the Secretary may require, including a plan for continuing 
the programs provided with grant funds under this section 
after the grant expires. 
(d) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—A re-
cipient of a grant under this section may not use more 
than 4 percent of the total amount of the grant in each 
fiscal year for the administrative costs of carrying out the 
programs provided with grant funds under this section. 
(e) EVALUATION AND REPORT.— 
(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PERFORMANCE MEAS-
URES.—The Secretary shall develop measures to 
evaluate the programs provided with grant funds 
under this section. 
(2) EVALUATION ACCORDING TO PERFORMANCE 
MEASURES.—Applying the performance measures 
developed under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
evaluate the programs provided with grant funds 
under this section in order to— 
(A) judge the performance and effective-
ness of such programs;
(B) identify which programs represent the 
best practices of entities developing such pro-
grams for mid-life and older individuals; and 
(C) identify which programs may be rep-
licated. 
(3) ANNUAL REPORTS.—For each fiscal year in 
which a grant is awarded under this section, the 
Secretary shall submit a report to Congress con-
taining a description of the status of the grant pro-
gram under this section, a description of the pro-
grams provided with grant funds under this section, 
and the results of the evaluation of such programs 
under paragraph (2). 
SEC. 4. NATIONAL TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 
PROGRAM. 
(a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary is authorized to 
award a grant to 1 or more eligible entities to— 
(1) create and make available instructional ma-
terials and information that promote financial edu-
cation; and 
(2) provide training and other related assist-
ance regarding the establishment of financial edu-
cation programs to eligible entities awarded a grant 
under section 3.
(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity is eligible to re-
ceive a grant under this section if such entity is a non-
profit organization organized under Section 501(c)(3) of 
the Internal Revenue Code with substantial experience in 
the field of financial education. 
(c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity desiring a grant 
under this section shall submit an application to the Sec-
retary in such form and containing such information as 
the Secretary may require. 
(d) BASIS AND TERM.—The Secretary shall award a 
grant under this section on a competitive, merit basis. 
SEC. 5 SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that, in providing assist-
ance under this Act, the Secretary should place a high pri-
ority on the provision of such assistance to organizations 
that have demonstrated experience in providing financial 
education to older women. 
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) AREA AGENCY ON AGING.—The term ‘‘area 
agency on aging’’ has the meaning given such term 
in section 102 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 
(42 U.S.C. 3002). 
(2) FINANCIAL EDUCATION.—The term ‘‘finan-
cial education’’ means education that promotes an
understanding of consumer, economic, and personal 
finance concepts, including saving for retirement, 
long-term care, and estate planning and education 
on predatory lending, identity theft, and financial 
abuse schemes. 
(3) MID-LIFE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘mid-life 
individual’’ means an individual aged 45 to 64 years. 
(4) OLDER INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘older indi-
vidual’’ means an individual aged 65 or older. 
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 
(6) STATE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘State agency’’ 
has the meaning given such term in section 102 of 
the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002). 
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap-
propriated to carry out this Act, $100,000,000 for each 
of the fiscal years 2006 through 2010. 
(b) LIMITATION ON FUNDS FOR EVALUATION AND 
REPORT.—The Secretary may use to carry out section 
3(e) not more than $200,000 of the amount appropriated 
under subsection (a) for each fiscal year. 
(c) LIMITATION
ON FUNDS
FOR TRAINING
AND 
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall use to 
carry out section 4 not less than 5 percent, and not more
than 10 percent, of the amount appropriated under sub-
section (a) for each fiscal year. 
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