Aspen Institute Interview
Rep. Beatty and Rep. Kim sat down with the Aspen Institute to discuss the re-launch of the bipartisan Financial Literacy and Wealth Creation Caucus in the 118th Congress.
Tim Shaw (Aspen): Thank you, Congresswoman Beatty and Congresswoman Kim, for relaunching this important Caucus, the Financial Literacy and Wealth Creation Caucus.
Rep. Beatty: First, let me just say, it’s an honor for both of us to be interviewed today. But we’re going to be a great team, because we both serve on the Financial Services Committee, and we both understand the value of financial literacy. So when we talked about launching this, the two of us kind of tossed it around, and I’m going to give full credit to my partner here. When she said, “Let’s look at it from the lens of today. Let’s talk about wealth, wealth education.”
Rep. Kim: I am so delighted to be able to serve as co-chair of this Financial Literacy and Wealth Creation Caucus. I want to thank Representative Beatty for asking me to serve in this capacity. Many of the immigrants come here to live the American Dream, like my family did. This financial literacy affects everyone—Americans from all different backgrounds.So one’s zip code or background or nationality should not determine who is going to succeed and who is going to fail. We want to use this vehicle to educate our community, especially those that are just arriving to live that American Dream.
Rep. Beatty: So now we have Democrats and Republicans, Members of Congress, who have decided that we should talk about educating one another, planning, building wealth, creating wealth for those who maybe thought that they would never reach this American Dream. And that all starts with our Caucus.
Rep. Kim: Anything that we do, if we want to make it productive, effective, and efficient, and really bring results to the people that we’re trying to reach and help, it’s got to be done in a bipartisan way. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity when you asked me to do this.
Rep. Beatty: And I was so excited.
Rep. Beatty: I think we’ve demonstrated from our lifestyles, our backgrounds, when you put people together that believe in what they’re doing, you can make a difference. And there really is an American Dream. And we’re going to be a part of letting everyone know that we have this Caucus, and it’s going to make a difference.
Rep. Kim: And they, too, can live that American Dream.
Rep. Beatty: Absolutely.