Senate expected to finish up with education bill this week

WASHINGTON -CUNA lobbyists said they believe the Senate could complete its work on the education reform bill this week, which they hope will retain financial education language adopted last week. “We are hopeful that the youth financial education initiatives that we’ve been supporting will be part of the Senate bill, as it is in the House bill,” CUNA Vice President and Senior Legislative Counsel Gary Kohn said. The financial literacy amendment offered by Senators Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) and Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), which provides funds for state agencies to create financial education programs for elementary and secondary school children, was added to the Better Education for Students and Teachers Act (S.1) late two weeks ago. “Right now they’re still floundering around with different amendments,” Kohn explained. He added that most of the amendments were germane to the subject and come from the Democratic side of the aisle. Last month the House passed similar bill, which also included financial education provisions.