[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 125 (Thursday, September 18, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H7591-H7592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCTION OF DEADBEAT PARENTS PUNISHMENT ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to announce the introduction by 
myself and the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hyde] of the Deadbeat 
Parents Punishment Act.
  The gentleman from Illinois and I are introducing this bill to send a 
clear and unmistakable message to deadbeat parents who attempt to use 
State borders as a shield against child support enforcement orders. It 
says essentially you can run, you can try to hide, but you cannot 
escape your moral and legal duty to pay child support you owe.
  The Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1997 will strengthen penalties 
for

[[Page H7592]]

deadbeat parents in egregious interstate cases of child support 
delinquency and enable Federal authorities to go after those who 
attempt to escape State-issued child support orders by fleeing across 
State lines.
  Under the Child Support Recovery Act sponsored by the gentleman from 
Illinois [Mr. Hyde] and enacted with broad bipartisan support in 1992, 
a bill which I cosponsored with the gentleman from Illinois, parents 
who willfully withhold child support payments totaling more than 
$5,000, or owing for more than 1 year, are presently subject to a 
misdemeanor punishable by not more than 6 months imprisonment. A 
subsequent offense is a felony punishable by up to 2 years in prison.
  The law that we are introducing today addresses the difficulty States 
frequently encounter in attempting to enforce child support orders 
beyond their borders. The Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act would augment 
current law by creating a felony offense for parents with an arrearage 
totaling more than $10,000 or owing for more than 2 years. This 
provision, like current law, would apply where the noncustodial parent 
and child legally reside in different States.
  In addition, the Deadbeats Act would make it a felony for a parent to 
cross a State border with the intent of evading child support orders 
where the arrearage totals more than $5,000 or is more than 1 year past 
due, regardless of residency.
  Mr. Speaker, this House has articulated in the welfare bill that we 
passed, in the act sponsored by the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hyde], 
and other legislation, that we expect those who have children in 
America to take responsibility for those children, to ensure, whether 
or not the family unit stays intact, that those children have adequate 
resources to be housed, to be clothed, to be fed, to be nurtured.
  Mr. Speaker, this Congress cannot force or mandate by law that 
parents will love their children. We hope that they will do that. We 
know that that is critical to a child's welfare. We know as well that 
the failure of some parents to do that has led to a crisis in this 
country when it comes to crime committed by children, teenage 
pregnancy, and other activity that we lament being perpetrated by young 
people. But, in fact, it is parents who we should expect and, yes, 
demand that they meet their responsibilities, first to their children, 
but then as well to their communities.
  Mr. Speaker, I would urge my colleagues to cosponsor this act with 
me, and I hope that we have early hearings and early passage of this 
act.

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