Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 115 Part 3.djvu/439

 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—MAY 10, 2001 115 STAT. 2513 (2) funding for discretionary education programs (including Head Start and funds for the Department of Education in excess of the President's request of $44.5 bilhon in discretionary budget authority for fiscal year 2002) is one such priority; and (3) these additional funds for education should be devoted to high priority programs including Head Start, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, education for the disadvantaged. Impact Aid, State assessment tests, Pell Grants, reading improvement programs, school construction, and teacher and classroom quality programs. Subtitle B—Sense of the Congress SEC. 311. ASSET BUILDING FOR THE WORKING POOR. (a) FINDINGS.— Congress finds the following: (1) For the vast majority of United States households, the pathway to the economic mainstream and financial security is not through spending and consumption, but through savings, investing, and the accumulation of assets. (2) One-third of all Americans have no assets available for investment and another 20 percent have only negligible assets. The situation is even more serious for minority households; for example, 60 percent of African-American households have no or negative financial assets. (3) Nearly 50 percent of all children in America live in households that have no assets available for investment, including 40 percent of Caucasian children and 73 percent of African- American children. (4) Up to 20 percent of all United States households do not deposit their savings in financial institutions and, thus, do not have access to the basic financial tools that make asset accumulation possible. (5) Public policy can have either a positive or a negative impact on asset accumulation. Traditional public assistance programs based on income and consumption have rarely been successful in supporting the transition to economic self-sufficiency. Tax poUcy, through $288,000,000,000 in annual tax incentives, has helped lay the foundation for the great middle class. (6) Lacking an income tax liability, low-income working families cannot take advantage of asset development incentives available through the Federal tax code. (7) Individual Development Accounts have proven to be successful in helping low-income working families save and accumulate assets. Individual Development Accounts have been used to purchase long-term, high-return assets, including homes, postsecondary education and training, and small business. (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that the Federal tax code should support a significant expansion of Individual Development Accounts so that millions of low-income, working families can save, build assets, and move their lives forward; thus, making positive contributions to the economic and social well-being of the United States, as well as to its future.

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