Congress, Working Together to Provide Solutions

At yesterday’s Congressional Savings and Ownership Caucus-sponsored event, “Helping Constituents Save at Tax Time,” Zack Marshall from the office of Rep. Jim Cooper made a few remarks that demonstrated the promise of savings in supporting family economic security and the power of consistent pressure, applied over time, to produce positive change. We’ll have more to come from this event, in the meantime, here are his remarks, printed in their entirety:

Everyday across our country cars break down, family members fall ill, unexpected costs arise. For many of us, this is a mere inconvenience – a check we don’t want to write. But for far too many in our communities – our neighbors – this can be devastating and set families into a cycle of financial insecurity that can take weeks, months, even years to dig out of.

The Savings and Ownership Caucus is a bipartisan member organization that was developed to raise awareness of this issue and inform fellow members of Congress – and the constituents they serve – of the products available that can pave the way to economic mobility and financial security. Products like the Tax Time Savings Bond.

Six years ago, Congressman Cooper, along with 11 of his colleagues sent a letter to Commissioner Mark Everson of the Internal Revenue Service.  In this letter he called for the IRS to make the changes necessary to make it easier for taxpayers – particularly low and moderate income families – to devote a portion of their tax refunds to a savings account.  It is my pleasure to be here today to see the fruits of those efforts.

Together we can work to provide solutions to protect our neighbors from financial crisis or ruin, and ensure stronger communities.  Thank you all for being here today. Thank you for your dedication to this effort.  For staff, if you, or your boss, are interested in joining the Savings and Ownership Caucus, please let me know.

UPDATE Video of the event is now posted on the event page.