[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 76 (Friday, June 16, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5308-S5309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. L. CHAFFEE (for himself, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Graham, and Mrs. 
        Lincoln):
  S. 2747. A bill to expand the Federal tax refund intercept program to 
cover children who are not minors; to the Committee on Finance.


     CHILD SUPPORT FAIRNESS AND TAX REFUND INTERCEPTION ACT OF 2000

  Mr. L. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I am pleased to be joined today by 
Senators Kohl, Graham, and Lincoln in introducing the Child Support 
Fairness and Tax Refund Interception Act of 2000.
  The Child Support Fairness and Tax Refund Interception Act of 2000 
closes a loophole in current federal statute by expanding the 
eligibility of one of the most effective means of enforcing child 
support orders--that of intercepting the federal tax refunds of parents 
who are delinquent in paying their court-ordered financial support for 
their children.
  Under current law, eligibility for the federal tax refund offset 
program is limited to cases involving minors, parents on public 
assistance, or adult children who are disabled. Custodial parents of 
adult, non-disabled children are not assisted under the IRS tax refund 
intercept program, and in many cases, they must work multiple jobs in 
order to make ends meet. Some of these parents have gone into debt to 
put their college-age children through school.
  The legislation we are introducing today will address this inequity 
by expanding the eligibility of the federal tax refund offset program 
to cover parents of all children, regardless of whether the child is 
disabled or a minor. This legislation will not create a cause of action 
for a custodial parent to seek additional child support. It will merely 
assist the custodial parent in recovering debt that is owed for a level 
of child support that was determined by a court.
  Improving our child support enforcement programs is an issue that 
should be of concern to us all as it remains a serious problem in the 
United States. According to the most recent Government statistics, 
there are approximately twelve million active cases in which a child 
support order requires a noncustodial parent to contribute to the 
support of his or her child. Of the $13.7 billion owed in 1998, only 
$6.9 billion has been collected. It is important to note that this data 
does not include reporting from many states, including Callifornia, New 
York, Florida, and Illinois. In 1998, only 23 percent of children 
entitled to child support through our public system received some form 
of payment, despite Federal and State efforts. Similar shortfalls in 
previous years bring the combined delinquency total to approximately 
$47 billion. We can fix this injustice in our Federal tax refund offset 
program by helping some of our most needy constituents receive the 
financial assistance they are owed.
  While the administration has been somewhat successful in using tax 
refunds as a tool to collect child support payments, more needs to be 
done. The IRS tax refund interception program has only collected one-
third of tardy child support payments. The Child Support Fairness and 
Tax Refund Interception Act of 2000 will remove the current barrier to 
fulfilling an individual's obligation to pay child support, while 
helping to provide for the future of our Nation's children.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important 
legislation, and I ask unanimous consent that the legislation be 
printed in the Record.

                                S. 2747

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Child Support Fairness and 
     Tax Refund Interception Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds the following:

[[Page S5309]]

       (1) Enforcing child support orders remains a serious 
     problem in the United States. There are approximately 
     12,000,000 active cases in which a child support order 
     requires a noncustodial parent to contribute to the support 
     of his or her child. Of the $13,700,000,000 owed in calendar 
     year 1998 pursuant to such orders, $6,900,000,000, or 51 
     percent, has been collected. However, this data does not 
     include reporting from many States, including California, New 
     York, Florida, and Illinois. Similar shortfalls in past years 
     have brought the combined total of child support owed to 
     $47,400,000,000 by the end of fiscal year 1997.
       (2) It is an injustice for the Federal Government to issue 
     tax refunds to a deadbeat spouse while a custodial parent has 
     to work 2 or 3 jobs to account for the shortfall in providing 
     for their children.
       (3) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program to intercept 
     the tax refunds of parents who owe child support arrears has 
     been successful in collecting more than \1/3\ of such 
     arrears.
       (4) The Congress has periodically expanded eligibility for 
     the IRS tax refund intercept program. Initially, the program 
     was limited to intercepting Federal tax refunds owed to 
     parents on public assistance. In 1984, Congress expanded the 
     program to cover refunds owed to parents not on public 
     assistance. Finally, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 
     1990 made the program permanent and expanded the program to 
     cover refunds owed to parents of adult children who are 
     disabled.
       (5) The injustice to the custodial parent is the same 
     regardless of whether the child is disabled, non-disabled, a 
     minor, or an adult, so long as the child support obligation 
     is provided for by a court or administrative order. It is 
     common for parents to help their adult children finance a 
     college education, a wedding, or a first home. Some parents 
     cannot afford to do that because they are recovering from 
     debt they incurred to cover expenses that would have been 
     covered if they had been paid the child support owed to them 
     in a timely manner.
       (6) This Act would address this injustice by expanding the 
     program to cover parents of all adult children, regardless of 
     whether the child is disabled.
       (7) This Act does not create a cause of action for a 
     custodial parent to seek additional child support. This Act 
     merely helps the custodial parent recover debt they are owed 
     for a level of child support that was set by a court after 
     both sides had the opportunity to present their arguments 
     about the proper amount of child support.

     SEC. 3. USE OF TAX REFUND INTERCEPT PROGRAM TO COLLECT PAST-
                   DUE CHILD SUPPORT ON BEHALF OF CHILDREN WHO ARE 
                   NOT MINORS.

       Section 464 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 664) is 
     amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(2)(A), by striking ``(as that term is 
     defined for purposes of this paragraph under subsection 
     (c))''; and
       (2) in subsection (c)--
       (A) in paragraph (1)--
       (i) by striking ``(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), 
     as used in'' and inserting ``In''; and
       (ii) by inserting ``(whether or not a minor)'' after ``a 
     child'' each place it appears; and
       (B) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3).

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation, the 
Child Support Fairness and Tax Refund Interception Act, with my 
colleague from Rhode Island, Senator Chafee, as well as Senators Graham 
and Lincoln. This legislation is designed to increase child support 
collections across the country by allowing more parents to secure 
overdue support payments through the tax refund offset program.
  Child support enforcement is an issue that I care a great deal about. 
Every day, far too many children in this country go without the 
resources they need to learn and grow in healthy, nurturing 
environments. Working to improve the lives and futures of these 
children in need should count amount our highest priorities, and we can 
do just that by improving our system of child support enforcement.
  This legislation that we are introducing today proposes one such 
improvement by seeking to expand the use of an important enforcement 
tool. As my colleagues may know, under current law, custodial parents 
are eligible to use the tax refund offset program if their child 
support cases involve minors, adult disabled children, or parents on 
public assistance. The offset program has played a key role in securing 
overdue support payments. In fact, along with wage withholding, the 
offset program counts as one of the most effective tools that custodial 
parents owed support have at their disposal. For the 1998 tax year, the 
federal government collected a record $1.3 billion in overdue support 
through the tax offset program, an 18 percent increase over the 
previous year and a 99 percent increase since 1992. These collections 
yielded benefits to approximately 1.4 million families.
  Yet despite these admirable gains, under current law, the benefits of 
the tax refund offset program are not available to other custodial 
parents, those who have adult children, who are rightfully owed past-
due support. Our legislation would address this issue by allowing all 
parents who are owed overdue court-ordered support to be eligible for 
the offset program, regardless of whether their child is disabled or a 
minor. We believe that this straightforward change will both increase 
child support collections and help ease the burdens of many custodial 
parents. It will assist those parents who may have worked multiple jobs 
and struggled to provide for their children but who may still have 
difficulty recovering child support debt owed to them without the 
assistance of the offset program.
  Our Nation's unacceptably low rate of child support enforcement is a 
national crisis. Our public system collects only 23 percent of its 
caseload, and over $47 billion in overdue support is owed to our 
nation's children. Clearly, we must do all we can to address this very 
serious problem.
  I urge my colleagues to join with Senators Chafee, Graham, Lincoln, 
and myself is supporting this important legislation. It will expand one 
effective tool in the enforcement arsenal and help increase the 
resources available to families in need.
                                 ______