Mr. President I have an amendment at the desk, amendment 524, which is cosponsored by my friend from New Jersey, Senator Corzine, and I ask that it be called up.

I ask that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. President, this amendment is similar to the economic education legislation which I introduced during the 106th Congress. That legislation received considerable bipartisan support from my colleagues, Senators Bayh, Breaux, Cleland, Cochran, Collins, Crapo, Daschle, Dodd, Durbin, Hagel, Johnson, Bob Kerrey, John Kerry, Landrieu, Lincoln, Lugar, Moynihan, Snowe, and Wellstone cosponsored the bill.

With each passing day, the need for increased economic literacy becomes more and more apparent. Our nation's economy is undergoing enormous changes. When I first introduced economic education legislation, we were in the midst of unprecedented economic growth and the longest peacetime economic expansion in our nation's history. More recently, however, the stock market experienced serious volatility and the NASDAQ suffered a sharp downturn. A number of employers, especially in the technology sector, have released a substantial number of their employees. The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates five times this year, the most recent cut occurring yesterday, in an effort to prevent our nation from sliding into an economic recession.

Economic changes such as these highlight the importance of economic and financial literacy. I am convinced that increased education about basic economic principles such as money management, personal finance, interest rates, and inflation will assist all Americans in making informed decisions about their financial situations. Beginning this education at a young age will better equip future generations to manage their financial affairs in our rapidly and constantly fluctuating economy. It is critical that today's students learn that there are consequences for every fiscal decision they make because the fiscal habits they learn now are likely to be the habits that remain as adults.

We must also assist today's students in becoming productive and well-informed citizens. Studies have shown that a lack of individual knowledge about fundamental economic principles can lead to negative effects on our national economy. Economic education, or the lack of it, has profound long-term effects on us all. In an April 6, 2001, speech, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan concurred with this assessment. In that speech, Chairman Greenspan articulated his belief that our nation's schools need to improve their ability to teach young people basic financial education. He also stated that this financial education should begin as early as possible.

Mr. President, I would like to share with you some of the results of a national test on basic economic principles conducted by the National Council on Economic Education in 1998 and 1999, which provide further evidence of the need for increased economic education. These results are based on responses from 1010 adults and 1085 high school students. Both the students and adults alike lacked a basic understanding about the fundamental concepts of money, inflation, and scarcity of resources. One-half of the adults and two-thirds of the students tested did not know that the stock market brings people who want to buy stocks together with those who want to sell them. Thirty-five percent of the students taking the test admitted that they do not know what the effect of an increase in interest rates would be. Only a little more than half of the adults and less than a quarter of the students tested knew that a budget deficit occurs when the federal government's expenditures exceed its revenues for that year. Amid these disappointing results, the study found that 96 percent of Americans believe that basic economics should be taught in high school. Yet, few states require students to take an economics course in order to graduate, or have adopted guidelines for teaching economics in their schools, or, alarmingly, even require schools within their state to offer a course on economics to be made available.

This amendment aims to increase student knowledge of, and achievement in, finance and economics by strengthening our nation's teachers' understanding of, and ability to teach economics. It provides resources to incorporate economics into K through 12 curricula. It encourages economics-related research and development, dissemination of instructional materials, and replication of best practices and programs. And it also increases private and public support for economic education partnerships between schools and local businesses. The need for economic literacy should be no different from, or less important than, reading literacy, writing aptitude, or math and science comprehension.

I want to thank my colleague, Senator Corzine, for joining me in this effort to improve our nation's financial literacy. I urge all of my colleagues to support our amendment and ensure that our nation's youth are sufficiently prepared for their financial futures.

Thank you, Mr. President.