Financial Inclusion in Banking Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mrs. WAGNER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank and congratulate the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David Scott), my good friend, on so much heavy lifting and the work that he has done to bring this bipartisan piece of legislation to the floor, along with our former colleague from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy) who was also very involved with you, Madam Speaker, on this bipartisan piece of legislation, H.R. 4067.

According to the most recent FDIC survey of unbanked and underbanked households, 6.5 percent of U.S. households were unbanked in 2017, meaning no one in the household had a checking or savings account. That equates to approximately 8.4 million American households.

The same survey showed that an additional 18.7 percent of households were underbanked, meaning that the household had a bank account but also obtained financial services outside the mainstream banking system. That is more than 24 million U.S. households composed of nearly 50 million adults and 15 million children, Madam Speaker.

These statistics point to the staggering number of Americans who have limited access to traditional banking services.

While these numbers have, thankfully, declined since the financial crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office of Community Affairs has and continues to engage in efforts to examine the unbanked and underbanked, as well as allocate resources to Americans who remain credit invisible.

The Office of Community Affairs works with the CFPB's Office of Research and the Office of Fair Lending to examine credit deserts and equip communities with tools for financial education.

The Bureau's Your Money, Your Goals program offers a variety of materials to help consumers pursue financial empowerment and resources for organizations aimed at helping financially vulnerable individuals.

Despite the progress that has been made, this remains an important issue that merits our attention. By further directing the CFPB's Office of Community Affairs to focus its work toward the underserved, we are working to assure these consumers are not overlooked.

This bill reaffirms our intent to engage in efforts to examine the unbanked and underbanked and identify solutions to deliver resources to Americans who remain credit invisible.

All Americans deserve access to the basic financial tools that will help them achieve financial independence, and this bill takes an important step in promoting financial inclusion and providing access to all Americans.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David Scott) for all of his tireless efforts on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support the Financial Inclusion in Banking Act.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, first, I would like to inquire if the gentlewoman has any more speakers.

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Mrs. WAGNER. Madam Speaker, I am ready to yield back if the gentleman is ready to close.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I am so glad that the gentlewoman mentioned Sean Duffy. I thank Mrs. Wagner for doing that.

Madam Speaker, Sean Duffy literally--to tell you the truth, I told him in committee, when he didn't show up, when we found out so we couldn't give our great speeches for him, I told him he broke my heart when I heard he wasn't coming back. I said here we are working on this monumental bill, he was the lead Republican sponsor on it and has brought it a mighty long way. But a great American has decided to retire from the Congress, Madam Speaker, and that is Sean Duffy of Wisconsin.

He and I served on that committee for years, and he has played a monumental role with us in this bill. We wouldn't be here with it on the floor with the strong bipartisan support we have if it weren't for the leadership of Sean Duffy.

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Mrs. WAGNER. Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner).

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Mrs. WAGNER. Madam Speaker, I share the gentleman from Georgia's sentiment completely, and we are grateful to Sean Duffy. We wish him and his family the very, very best in making the choice to choose to put his family first and retire from this wonderful institution.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David Scott) for yielding to me to say a word or two about my friend, Mr. Duffy.

Madam Speaker, I urge passage of this wonderful, bipartisan piece of legislation, H.R. 4067.

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I am urging that we get a unanimous vote on this, that every single Member of Congress will send a powerful message that we are no longer going to stand by and have 58 million Americans out there waiting for the pawns of these predatory lenders, these loan sharks, and others. No. We want to bring them out of the shadows and bring them into our great American financial system.

Madam Speaker, I urge everyone to vote for the bill, and I hope we have a unanimous vote.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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