[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 21 (Thursday, February 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1143-H1144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, tonight I want to discuss an issue that I 
believe is critical to successful welfare reform. That is the whole 
issue of child support enforcement.
  The interests of our children must come first in welfare reform. We 
cannot look out for those interests unless we demand more 
responsibility from their parents, especially in the area of child 
support.
  Our country's failure to adequately collect child support has had a 
devastating impact on our children. The statistics are startling. 
Sixty-three 
[[Page H1144]] percent of noncustodial parents do not pay child 
support. In 1989, only 37 percent of the almost 10 million custodial 
mothers caring for children under 21 received any child support. And 
currently only $14 billion of the $48 billion in child support payments 
is being paid each year, leaving a gap of $34 billion uncollected. Just 
think of the basic needs of these children that are not being met, 
adequate housing, proper clothes for school, healthy meals at the 
dinner table, things that all of us take for granted.
  In my home State of Connecticut, failure to pay child support is the 
greatest cause of poverty among single parent families. Child support 
delinquencies in Connecticut exceeded $475 million in 1993 alone. Only 
40 percent of families with child support orders in the state actually 
received payments.
  I recently met with a group of mothers who told me horrific stories 
about the choices that they are forced to make because their ex-
husbands refuse to honor their court-ordered child support payments.
  One woman works a full-time day job and three part-time jobs at 
night, because her ex-husband has not paid child support in 12 years. 
She still finds herself falling behind, and she broke down one day in a 
grocery store because she had only $40 with which to buy 2 weeks' worth 
of groceries.
  Another woman has been working four jobs for 14 years in order to 
support her children. She has taken her ex-husband to court more than 
100 times to force him to pay child support.
  These hard-working women, through no fault of their own, are just one 
step away from needing public assistance to support their kids. All 
because their children's fathers are refusing to pay what they owe.
  It should not be this way. It should not be this difficult for hard-
working single parents to provide for their children. Every child has 
two parents, and both of them should be required to live up to their 
financial responsibility.
  Unfortunately, many do not, resulting in increased rates of childhood 
poverty and AFDC enrollment. And that is why the issue of child support 
enforcement must be addressed in the context of welfare reform.
  The best welfare reform of all is reform that keeps parents and 
children from needing government assistance in the first place.
  I want to send a clear message tonight, that when it comes to welfare 
reform, a solution that does not include tough child support 
enforcement is no solution at all.
  The Republicans Contract With America falls woefully short. The 
contract calls for stepping up child support collection, but it 
neglects to include any worthwhile means of improving child support 
enforcement. It takes a step in the right direction
 with a paternity establishment provision that requires States to 
establish paternity in 90 percent of their AFDC cases, but it is not 
enough.

  I believe the paternity establishment is an essential step toward 
enhancing child support collection. That is why we fought for 
provisions in the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 to encourage more 
voluntary in-hospital paternity programs. To truly improve child 
support collection, legislation is needed that will: First, work to 
establish child support awards in every case; second, to ensure fair 
award levels, and; three, to collect the awards that are owed. We also 
advocate changes in the law that will penalize noncustodial parents for 
failing to meet their child support obligations.
  It is my hope that the Republicans will prove to be open to these 
kinds of changes and suggestions. I look forward to the subcommittee's 
meeting and hearing on Monday, and I look forward to working with my 
colleagues on this very important issue.
  I hope that our motto for welfare reform, besides rewarding work and 
responsibility and allowing people to go to work to do that and to get 
off welfare, but that we will put our children first.

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