Floor Statement on Military Families Financial Preparedness Amendment - May 27, 2010

Mr. Speaker-Thousands of active duty service members are returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq every year.

Many of these individuals have been serving continuously since they enlisted right out of high school or college.

For years, they lived a structured military life-on bases or abroad.

This structure makes for a well disciplined, well trained military force.

But it can also make for a difficult transition back to civilian life.

Many returning service members have no experience with saving, budgets, credit, taxes and mortgages.

As a result, many military families are falling into unmanageable debt, bankruptcy and foreclosure.

My amendment-which is part of this en bloc amendment-seeks to alleviate these concerns.

It simply expands the military's existing pre-separation counseling program to include a personal finances component.

When this takes effect, military families will reenter civilian life with the information they need to build a stable, long-term financial future.

I encourage all of my colleagues to support our military families by supporting this amendment.