[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 8, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S1136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Rockefeller, and Ms. 
        Landrieu):
  S. 321. A bill to provide more child support money to families 
leaving welfare, to simplify the rules governing the assignment and 
distribution of child support collected by States on behalf of 
children, to improve the collection of child support, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the Child 
Support Distribution Act 2005, which Senator Snowe and I introduced 
today. I want to thank Senator Snowe for her hard work and dedication 
to this important issue and am proud to have worked with her for many 
years on this legislation. And I'd like to thank Senators Rockefeller 
and Landrieu for their cosponsorship and support.
  Senator Snowe and I have worked, both separately and in tandem, on 
issues related to child support for more than ten years. On many 
occasions, we've come close to seeing the positive changes contained in 
this legislation enacted. In 2000, a House version of this bill passed 
by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 405 to 18. In the 108th Congress, 
our legislation was included in the TANF Reauthorization bill that 
passed out of the Senate Finance Committee with bipartisan support. 
This year, S. 6, which was introduced by Senator Santorum, and is 
supported by Majority Leader Frist and Senators McConnell and 
Hutchison, contains child support provisions that are almost based 
entirely on the legislation we're discussing today.
  This legislation consistently receives bipartisan support because it 
takes a common sense approach to child support. By passing through more 
child support funds directly to low-income families, rather than 
sending it to the federal government, non-custodial parents are more 
likely pay, and families see a huge benefit from the additional income.
  Currently, approximately 60 percent of poor children who live with 
their mothers and whose fathers live outside the home do not receive 
child support. Though there are a variety of reasons why non-custodial 
parents may not be paying support for then children, many don't pay 
because the system actually discourages them from doing so.
  Under current law, $2.1 billion in child support is retained every 
year by the State and Federal Governments as repayment for welfare 
benefits--rather than delivered to the children to whom it is owed. 
Fifty-six percent of that amount is for families who have left welfare. 
Since the money doesn't benefit their kids, fathers are discouraged 
from paying support. And mothers have no incentive to push for payment 
since the support doesn't go to them.
  The current rules withhold a key source of income for low-income 
families that could help them maintain self-sufficiency. According to 
the Center for Law and Social Policy, child support constitutes 16 
percent of family income for low-income households that receive it. For 
families who leave welfare, this number almost doubles. A Washington 
State study of families leaving welfare with regular child support 
payments found that these families found work faster and kept jobs 
longer, compared to families without steady child support income.
  It's time for Congress to change this system and encourage States to 
distribute more child support to families. My home State of Wisconsin 
has been a leader in this practice, which has benefited thousands of 
working families. In 1997, I worked with my State to institute an 
innovative program of passing through child support payments directly 
to families. An evaluation of the  Wisconsin program clearly shows that 
when child support payments are delivered to families, non-custodial 
parents are more apt to pay, and to pay more. In addition, Wisconsin 
has found that, overall, this policy does not increase government 
costs. That makes sense because ``passing through'' support payments to 
families means they have more of their own resources, and are less apt 
to depend on public help to meet other needs such as food, 
transportation or child care.

  We now have a key opportunity to encourage all States to follow 
Wisconsin's example. This legislation gives States options and strong 
incentives to send more child support directly to families who are 
working their way off--or are already off--public assistance. Not only 
will this create the right incentives for non-custodial parents to pay, 
but it will also simplify the job for States, who currently face an 
administrative nightmare in following the complicated rules of the 
current system.
  This legislation finally brings the Child Support Enforcement program 
into the post-welfare reform era, shifting its focus from recovering 
welfare costs to increasing child support to families so they can 
sustain work and maintain self-sufficiency. After all, it's only fair 
that if we are asking parents to move off welfare, stay off welfare, 
and take financial responsibility for their families, then we in 
Congress must make sure that child support payments actually go to the 
families to whom they are owed and who are working so hard to succeed.
  It is time for Congress to make this change. It's time that we 
finally make child support meaningful for families, and make sure that 
children get the support they need and deserve.
                                 ______