Military Personnel Financial Services Protection Act

MILITARY PERSONNEL FINANCIAL SERVICES PROTECTION ACT -- (House of Representatives - October 05, 2004)

Mr. BAKER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5011) to prevent the sale of abusive insurance and investment products to military personnel, as amended.

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Mr. CARTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5011, the Military Personnel Financial Services Protection Act. The military has a major presence in central Texas, and I have a great interest in protecting the financial well-being of our soldiers and their families.

I find it absolutely deplorable that our men and women in uniform are being actively coerced into spending any part of their already modest incomes on unnecessary, overpriced insurance policies and predatory investment plans. Companies that solicit these plans knowingly exploit the financial naivety of our newest soldiers through unscrupulous practices, which have been described here today and recently detailed in a New York Times series.

At a time when soldiers should be focusing their efforts and limited resources on providing for their families, it is unconscionable we allow our soldiers to be swindled into contractual plans that have not been offered to civilian markets since the 1980s, or to be sold expensive insurance policies that provide inadequate coverage.

Therefore, I ask my colleagues to protect those who so selflessly stand on the wall and protect us and to vote in favor of H.R. 5011.

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