[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 44 (Thursday, March 9, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H2975-H2976]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT AND COLLECTION SYSTEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, one of the most critical areas in need of 
reform is our child support enforcement and collection system. Too many 
absent parents are not meeting their responsibility of emotionally and 
financially supporting their children.
  Bringing children into this world and not supporting them is an 
irresponsible act and it is wrong. The time has come for us to put an 
end to this irresponsible behavior.
  Those of us who work hard and play by the rules can no longer 
continue supporting a system in which responsibility is abandoned. 
Enough is enough.
  Americans expect and we need to demand that both parents support 
their children. We must discourage government dependence and expect 
every able-bodied American to be personally responsible for their 
actions. The previous speaker talked about that. This is not a partisan 
issue. This is a critical issue if America is going to succeed to build 
a better society for our children and generations to come.
  Payment of child support should be as certain as taxes and death. 
Each year failure to collect child support costs our country billions 
of dollars and children billions of dollars.
  The potential for our child support collection is estimated at around 
$48 billion. However, only $14 billion is actually collected. This 
leaves an estimated collection gap of $34 billion per year that parents 
are not paying to support their children and expecting the rest of us 
to pick up the slack.
  Clearly, we need to take care of those children. But we also need to 
demand that parents are there first.
  Moreover, half of the women eligible for child support are receiving 
nothing. These statistics send a clear signal that we have got a lot 
more work to do.
  [[Page H2976]] Last week President Clinton moved us another step 
forward in our continuing effort to improve our Nation's child support 
enforcement system. I want to commend him on taking such a bold step in 
issuing an Executive order which will improve and expedite child 
support enforcement for Federal employees.
  The Executive order will cross-match the names of Federal employees 
with Federal employment records and inform the States if there is a 
match. A determination will be made by the State as to whether wage 
withholding or other actions are necessary. The order will simplify 
service of process for Federal employees.
  In addition, it will require every Federal agency to cooperate with 
the Federal parent locator service. The Executive order also cuts the 
time in half between the day a paycheck is garnished and the day it is 
received by the custodial parent.
  Now, almost every Member of this body knows and my constituents know 
that I am a strong supporter of Federal employees and fight for their 
pay and benefits. But they, like others, need to be responsible. And 
they need to support their children.
  The President has established a working model upon which the Congress 
can build. In the next couple of weeks I hope this House will bring a 
bill to the floor which contains meaningful reform to the current 
system.
  The previous speaker talked about welfare reform
   and a couple of others did as well. There is not a person in this 
body that does not know that welfare is broke. And the issue is, how do 
we fix it? How do we fix it, and, yes, expect and demand work, but also 
understand that to get to work, we are going to have to take actions to 
facilitate that transfer from dependency to independence.

  Before we reach the floor for the final vote, there is still ground 
which can be covered such as revocation of driver's licenses for 
persons owing child support arrearages. While I applaud my colleagues 
for including child support in their welfare reform package, I am 
disappointed that they chose to not include this provision. The 
inclusion of such a provision would have the effect of again holding 
parents responsible for support of their children.
  The State of Maine has instituted such a plan. Since implementation, 
the State has revoked less than 20 licenses, but because of the threat 
of license revocation, the State has received about 12 million 
additional dollars for back child support.
  Just imagine how much could be collected and used to support our 
Nation's children if this were implemented in all 50 states.
  Mr. Speaker, we all agree the child support system is in need of 
reform. Let us take actions in the coming weeks to make sure that 
children receive the support from their parents that they are due 
morally and legally.


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