[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 86 (Friday, June 26, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           THE ADOPTION TAX CREDIT AND EASING ADOPTION COSTS

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                           HON. NEWT GINGRICH

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 25, 1998

  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend to the attention 
of my colleagues the following editorial from the Marietta Daily 
Journal, which recognizes the importance of the Adoption Tax Credit 
passed by Congress in 1996 and urges further Congressional action to 
ease the costs involved in adopting a child.

                   [From the Marietta Daily Journal]

                       ``Aye'' To Adoption Credit

       People adopt children for lots of reasons. However, the 
     desire to gain a tax break is not one of them. Yes, adoptive 
     parents do receive a tax break from Uncle Sam, but the amount 
     scarcely comes close to what the adoption process actually 
     costs.
       Prospective adoptive parents easily can incur legal fees, 
     medical bills, travel expenses and other costs in excess of 
     $20,000, according to Cobb County's Mark Johnson, executive 
     director of the Hope for Children adoption agency.
       With that in mind, House Speaker Newt Gingrich has 
     announced a push to raise the adoption tax credit to $8,000 
     from $5,000 in hopes of spurring more people to adopt. He 
     also would make the credit available to upper-income adoptive 
     parents. And Mr. Gingrich knows a bit about adoption, having 
     been adopted as a boy by his mother's second husband.
       The speaker reasons that children who are adopted are more 
     likely to grow up loved and as contributing members of 
     society than children who spend their youths as wards of the 
     state.
       ``It is so much better to have an adoption-child tax 
     credit, which is one-third to one-fourth the cost of a year 
     in prison, than it is to have that child end up 16 years 
     later in jail,'' he said.
       An increase in the tax credit would increase the number of 
     adoptions of children that are least likely to be adopted--
     disabled children, minorities and siblings. Gingrich also 
     announced plans to push for a change in the law that would 
     limit the legal rights of biological parents who refuse to 
     sign adoption papers, even though they fail to support their 
     children financially.
       ``You can't run a society in which a totally irresponsible 
     person, possibly to blackmail money out of you, can refuse to 
     sign a document for a child they're providing no support 
     for,'' he argued.
       That makes perfect sense to us. And as for increasing the 
     tax credit, the HOPE agency's Johnson predicts the number of 
     adoptions would double if it was increased. That also makes 
     sense, and we hope Congress heeds the speaker's advice.

     

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