The committee will come to order. I note that a quorum shall be present without objection the committee is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. Without objection members of the full committee, not on the subcommittee are authorized to participate in todays hearing. The committee is meeting today pursuant to the testimony on examining racial and gender wealth gaps in america. I now recognize myself for four minutes to give an opening statement. Todays hearing is around a Critical Mission avoid the subcommittee exist. The racial and gender wealth gap is real. Unacceptable and actually much larger than people think. True wealth can be defined by adding of total assets including cash retirement account or your home and then subtracting liability which is credit card debt, student loans, mortgage to reach you reach your net worth. The median net worth of white household with 130,800, the white median net worth of latina and households was 17530. And for black households, it was 9590. For nearly all working families, the most powerful Building Tools are homeownership, and retirement. However, due to Structural Racism, redlining, practices, outright discrimination, disparities and the list goes on, along with predatory lending practices that disproportionately affect women and communities of color. It has been more difficult for certain families to actually build wealth across multiple generations. There is always talk about disparities in income between women and people of color as compared to the white peers but social economic differences do not explain a way racial in office a. Todays reality in which a homeownership of black households is the same as it was in 1967. When racebased discrimination in housing was legal. And it did not happen by accident. We heard all the stories. Racial, gender are not caused by individual behavior but seek in systems that perpetuate past injustices. The subcommittee was founded to help leaders and members of congress confront the reality that our systems, institutions and outcomes emanate from an unjust hierarchy of which the United States was built. According to richard who authored the law, he said we have created a cast system in this country which africanamericans in geographically separate by racial explicit Government Policies and also most of these policies are now off the books and have never been remedied in their effect endured. For that reason i am proud to have todays hearing to have identified an underlying issue that perpetuate the racial and gender welfare and helps set up the stage for bold comprehensive solutions to set the promise facing the nation. Barriers to wealth, accumulation remains a growing issue facing our communities and in particular my constituents in the third Congressional District of ohio and the nation at large. There is no one side that fits all and i call my colleagues within this committee to give this topic the full attention that it deserves and Work Together to implement multifaceted federal policy solutions. And i reserve the balance of my time for the chair of the Financial Services committee maxine waters. The chair now recognizes the Ranking Member congresswoman and wagoner for her full five minutes for her opening statement. I think the chair and i thank you so much for putting together the hearing. Its a critical hearing and as we have congressional efforts towards the gender pay and wealth gaps. In 1976, one in 20 women were the sole breadwinners in their household. By 2013 it was one and four. And today, women are the breadwinner or cobreadwinner in nearly two thirds of families with children. Given the substantial gains in the percentage of women participating in the workforce and growing our economy, we must ensure that women have equal access to opportunity to support their family for the future and build access. The good news is, we have seen a tremendous improvement in how women are compensated in the past few decades. A 2018 pay scale study which i would ask madam chair that we submit for the record. Without objection. Comparing men and women with similar experience industry and job level found that women receive 98 cents for every dollar earned by men. This is fantastic progress. But there is still much to be done. Particularly in addressing the wealth gap in the managers gap. In ensuring that the American Workforce is more flexible and familyfriendly so mothers can produce pate without facing unnecessary hurdles or sacrificing the wellbeing of their children, americas next generation. As a working woman, i worked before, during and after i had my children. And grandchildren. I have always been a past defender of equal pay for equal work. In order to close the pay gap and empower more women and people of color to be leaders in our workforce, i am proud cosponsor of hr 1925, the wage equity act. This legislation would empower employees to utilize Flexible Work arrangements to create proactively incentivize businesses to fix pay and protect individuals and negotiating employment based upon merit, not salary history. Target negotiation, education for women. And protect employees in discussing the compensation with their colleagues. In 2017, the Government Accountability office, the gao found that women are under representative especially management. In this industry, mathematics, mathematicians, engineers and physicists were alongside the economics. But women receive far few degrees in math, statistics, Computer Science and engineering compared to men. The underrepresentation of women in wellpaid stem careers is one of the underlying causes of the wealth gap, creating greater diversity in Stem Education and doing it at an early age is critical, not only for improving opportunity for women and minorities and finance but across all workforce sectors. It is key to sustaining robust Economic Growth in the United States. That is why i sent a letter yesterday to the gao which i would like again to submit for the record madam chair. Without objection. Requesting a study to assess how firms are supporting participation among women in the stem program at the secondary undergraduate and graduate levels. And what best practices firms are using to recruit and retain women with stem degrees. This study will help us continue to find solutions that would strengthen the u. S. Industry and i think you, i will now yield the remainder of my time to the Ranking Member of the Financial Services committee mr. Patrick mchenry. I think the Ranking Member in the chairwoman for holding this meeting. The subcommittee principle is very simple. Every american should hold equal access to the same economic opportunities. The data indicating racial wealth gaps tells us that that is not the case. Financial firms and other companies of all types have recognized the negative consequences of the wealth gaps in this country. Firms are taking proactive steps to address underlying conditions resulting in women minorities to earn less and save less. Initiatives such as literacy training, changes to family leave and childcare policies, that ive been supportive. And for higher participation stem programs have been effective and they need to do more. Thank you for participation in thank you for your initiatives and we look forward to a good hearing. Thank you. Today we welcome the testimony of a very diverse and distinguished panel of five witnesses. Thank you. First we welcome the testimony of dietrich mohammed, the chief of race and community at the national reinvestment coalition. In the in crc fair housing, fair lending and Small Business. He oversees the Small Business program as well. Prior to his role he was a senior director of the Economic Department and executive director of the Financial Freedom center. Next we welcome the testimony of tj who is the Institute Fellow at the urban institute. Tj researched focus is on Economic Security, Structural Racism in the racial well cast. Her publications include africanamerican Economic Development and ownership. She is an advisor for the closing Womens WealthGap Initiative and a member of the Bipartisan Commission on Retirement Security and personal savings. We next welcome the testimony of doctor powell, a researcher and independent consultant specializing in external evaluation of grants that seeks to increase Faculty Diversity and bring underrepresented groups into stem. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Doctor powell is a National Expert on the wealth gap especially gender and racial dimension of wealth inequality. She is also a Founding Member of the closing Wealth Gap Initiative and a member of the Insight Centers experts of color network. Next we welcome the testimony of celie crosscheck who is the chair of the 135,000 strong Global Professional womens network. She is the ceo and cofounder of elevate, additionally First Mission driven platform for women. Before launching, she built a successful center as the ceo of merrill lynch, u. S. Trust, City Private Bank and Stanford Steve bernstein. She was also chief Financial Officer for citigroup. Finally, we welcome the testimony of doctor lisa cook and a professor of the department of economics at the j Madison College at Michigan State university. She served as president of the National Economic association from 2015 to 2016 and currently serves as codirector of the american Economic Association summer training program. Prior to this appointment and while on faculty at Harvard UniversityKennedy School of government, she was also the Deputy Director for African Research and programs at the center of International Development at Harvard University. Now, the witnesses are reminded that the oral testimony will be limited to five minutes. Without objection, your written statement will be part of the record. The witnesses are reminded to turn on their microphones and abide in the three lights in front of you. Green means go, yellow needs wrap up and red means stop. We will first start, you are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation of your testimony. Chairwoman beatty and Ranking Member wagoner and members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me too testify today. The views expressed are my own and should not be attributed to the urban institute, trustees or funders. This hearing represents a critical step in work that is been done to bring the racial and gender wealth gaps Nation International attention. My remarks will focus on three key points, first, the racial wealth gap is not a result of bad financial choices by people of color, it was created through a Structural Racism. Second, to understand and effectively address the wealth gap, we need more expansive Data Collection that is federally funded, third they gap can be closed but it will require Equitable Solutions that focus on policy change, not changing peoples behavior. The racial wealth gap is the difference in net worth between families of color and white families. The median wealth of white families in 2016 was ten times the wealth of black families and eight times the wealth of latino families. Research demonstrates the racial wealth gap was created by policies and institutional practices designed to facilitate the wealth accumulation while impeding wealth building or stripping wealth from families of color. These policies include Human Trafficking and bondage of people of african descent to build wealth for white people followed by policies that restricted black homes and Business Ownership, employment and educational opportunities. Latino families experienced extensive land locks during the manifest destiny. And displacement through deportation thereafter. Native americans lost much of their land and Natural Resources to award treaties and forced displacement including to the homestead act. Asian americans face special fees, taxes and regulations that leave them less competitive than white people and japaneseamericans were interned in world war ii moving their freedom and their assets. It was not until 1900 that the legislation passed to allow women to control property and qualified labor market discrimination into the 1970s. More recently families of color were targeted for subprime mortgages even when they qualified for prime loans resulting in the loss of homeownership and equity. The racial wealth gap persists even when back families meet all the rights and choices. Lack people with College Degrees have less wealth and White High School dropouts. Twoparent black families have less wealth than singleparent white families. The Ford Foundation funded the First Research that was specifically designed to measure the racial wealth gap and to disaggregate the data not only by race and ethnic city by country of origin and tribal affiliation. But the study was limited to five cities into one year. We need federally funded Data Collected periodically to better understand the drivers of the racial and gender wealth gap for foreign policymakers. A possible solution is to expand the Federal Reserve survey of consumer finance. The racial and gender wealth gap are not improbable problems but they require equitable policy solutions to eliminate them. Baby bonds are a solution proposed Derek Hamilton that would give all newborns a publicly funded endowment of 50e familys wealth. They would be held by the federal government until the child becomes a young adult and can use them to pay for an asset like Higher Education or homes. One Analysis Shows that they nearly closed the racial wealth gap in the cost of baby bonds could be covered by a more equitable use of existing tax expenditures for asset building. Over 70 of tax expenditures intended to help Families Build wealth are going to the top 20 of income earners. A more equitable use of these tax subsidies would cover the cost of baby bonds so in summary. Wealth gaps are caused by discriminatory policies and practices. Thank you. Thank you so much. Now i would like to recognize mr. Mohammed for five minutes. Good afternoon and thank you for inviting me here as chief of race wealth and community with a reinvestment coalition. To speak about the racial wealth divide and what must be done to address a issue. In crc was formed in 1990 and is grown into association of more than 600 communitybased organizations that promote access to banking services, Affordable Housing, entrepreneurship, and vibrant communities for americas working families. Thanks to the Ground Breaking work of colleagues, there is growing recognition of the ongoing challenge of a deep too often racial wealth divide. As i often state, the foundation of inequality is racial economic inequality. In the foundation of racial economic inequality is racial wealth inequality. As the demographic continues to change, the racial wealth divide is no longer primary challenge of disenfranchise minorities but a threat to the american middle class. As a report referred notes, since early 1980s, median wealth among black latino families have been struck ellison 10000. Why white household median wealth grew from 105000 145000. And despite of the growth of white wealth, showing how the racial wealth divide is weakening the american middle class as a whole. Similar to the racial wealth divide, there has been ongoing racial inequality for the two largest assets in americas wealth portfolio. Business ownership in homeownership. For the last 40 years black latino homeownership have stabled 50 while white homeownership has remained at about 70 . In the Second Quarter of 2019 white hot homeownership rate of 73 and latinos had almost 47 and black homeownership nearly 41 . In regards, Business Owners