[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 54 (Thursday, March 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3705]
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 
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Weller] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, as one of the chief sponsors of the Family 
Reinforcement Act, I rise in strong support of the goals of child 
support enforcement provisions and the Personal Responsibility Act. All 
are Republican welfare reform initiatives.
  The condition of America's families is of utmost importance to the 
future of our country. We must act quickly and decisively to restore 
and encourage and protect our most fundamental unit of America society, 
the family.
  I am here today to voice my support for the common-sense goals of 
H.R. 4, reducing welfare dependency by ensuring that parents support 
their children, strengthening and streamlining the State-based child 
support system and giving the States the tools they need to get the job 
done.
  Too many single parent families have had nowhere else to turn but to 
resort to government support programs. Too many children go to bed 
hungry or do without, all because their deadbeat parents outrun the 
current bureaucratic and time-consuming child support collection 
system. This has got to stop.
  Republicans are working to change our child support collection 
system. Republicans want to help the needy children of America, 
particularly when we see that today $34 billion is owed to children 
today by deadbeat parents. In my own State of Illinois, that is $176 
million on unmet obligations to the children of Illinois.
  Let us look at what is in H.R. 4 regarding child support. The 
Personal Responsibility Act has three goals in child support: to reduce 
welfare dependency by ensuring that parents support their children, 
strengthening the State-based child support system and giving the 
States the tools they need to get the job done.
  It provides for strong measures to establish paternity, requiring 
applicants and recipients of public aid to establish paternity for 
their children, granting States financial incentives for establishing 
paternity.
  The bill also provides better tools to locate absent parents, making 
additional information available to the States, including law 
enforcement systems and data on licenses, newly hired employees and 
members of organized labor.
  H.R. 4 also provides streamlined procedures to collect child support. 
In fact, if you look at the States' caseload, which has grown almost 
150 percent since 1983, then you will discover that this plan helps 
States manage caseloads more effectively by providing expedited 
procedures to order genetic testing, enter default orders and issue 
subpoenas.
  It also removes the barriers that exist when parents reside in 
different States by requiring States to honor the child support orders 
of one State so no parent can avoid child support by leaving the State 
their child lives in.
  And it also puts in place tough techniques, tough tools so States can 
enforce child support orders, strengthening the States' enforcement 
capability by allowing States to use assets, income and even lottery 
prizes to satisfy child support debt.
  It also requires licensing agencies to collect social security 
numbers so States may match child support and licensing records and 
impose restrictions on licenses held by people who fail to support 
their children.
  With adoption of the Salmon amendment today, it allows States to 
place liens on property of deadbeat parents who fled their States, such 
as someone who would flee my home State of Illinois, to avoid their 
responsibility to their own children.
  Ladies and gentleman, H.R. 4 provides tough tools to help deadbeat 
parents be located and, of course, be forced to meet their 
responsibilities. If you look at the facts, if you look at the record, 
H.R. 4 helps kids. In fact, when you know the facts, that too many 
deadbeat participants have stiffed their own flesh and blood for far 
too long, then it is time to support the Personal Responsibility Act.
  Let us vote for real reform that helps kids, helps children. Let us 
pass H.R. 4 tomorrow on Friday.

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