[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 146 (Tuesday, October 6, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H6801-H6802]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHILD SUPPORT ASSISTANCE ACT OF 2015
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2091) to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to clarify the
ability to request consumer reports in certain cases to establish and
enforce child support payments and awards.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2091
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 Assistance Act
of 2015''.
SEC. 2. REQUESTS FOR CONSUMER REPORTS BY STATE OR LOCAL CHILD
SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
Paragraph (4) of section 604(a) of the Fair Credit
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b(a)(4)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or determining the
appropriate level of such payments'' and inserting ``,
determining the appropriate level of such payments, or
enforcing a child support order, award, agreement, or
judgment'';
(2) in subparagraph (B)--
(A) by striking ``paternity'' and inserting ``parentage'';
and
(B) by adding ``and'' at the end;
(3) by striking subparagraph (C); and
(4) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (C).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn
B. Maloney) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
General Leave
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2091. My friend and
colleague, the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Poliquin), has worked hard to
build significant bipartisan support for this commonsense legislation.
It passed out of the Committee on Financial Services with a vote of 56-
2.
Mr. Speaker, it is important to remember that most child support
payments are collected from noncustodial parents through income
withholding. In order to verify income, assets, and debt for purposes
of establishing or enforcing child support obligations, State and local
child support agencies and courts often request consumer reports from
the consumer reporting agencies.
State and local child support agencies argue that the 10-day notice
provision provides obligors with an opportunity to hide savings and
other assets, run up credit card debt, and take other financial or
employment actions to avoid or reduce child support payments.
This bill authorizes a consumer reporting agency to furnish a
consumer report in response to a request by the head of a State or
local child support enforcement agency if the requestor certifies that
the report is needed for enforcing a child support order, award,
agreement, or judgment. The bill also repeals the requirement of 10
days' prior notice to a consumer whose report is requested.
Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense piece of legislation.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such
time as I may consume.
I support H.R. 2091, the Child Support Assistance Act, because it
will help child support enforcement agencies do their job and will make
child support payments more efficient.
When a State child support enforcement agency wants to locate a
parent who is delinquent on his or her child support payment, the
agency requests the parent's consumer report from one of the consumer
reporting agencies. This allows the agency to verify the parent's
employment and income, which are key factors for child support
payments.
Current law, however, requires the agency to provide the delinquent
parent 10 days' notice before it can even request the consumer report
from the credit bureaus. This 10-day head start serves no legitimate
policy purpose. In fact, the only thing it does is give delinquent
parents time to manipulate their financial position to evade paying
their child support obligations.
The consequences of this 10-day notice requirement is that some
delinquent parents who should be paying child support are not paying
all they owe and the money they do pay isn't
[[Page H6802]]
getting to the families as quickly as it should.
This bill would eliminate this loophole by doing away with the 10-day
notice requirement. Providing 10 days' notice before pulling someone's
consumer report might make sense in some circumstances, but in this
situation, it only slows down the wheels of justice and gives
delinquent parents an opportunity to further avoid paying their child
support obligations.
I support this bill that was reported out almost unanimously, with
only two people voting against it. I would like to thank the gentleman
from Maine (Mr. Poliquin) as well as Mr. Ellison on the Democratic side
for their hard work on this commonsense bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Maine (Mr. Poliquin). He has worked tirelessly on this piece of
legislation. I appreciate his efforts.
Mr. POLIQUIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. I am thrilled to stand before the House today as the author of
the Child Support Assistance Act, H.R. 2091.
Across America today we have 17 million kids coast to coast who
benefit from the child support program. In our great State of Maine
alone, there are some 57,000 kids who need our help. As a single parent
myself, I believe that the most important job in the world is taking
care of our kids. Unfortunately, not every parent believes that.
After a court determines that a noncustodial parent owes financial
support for his or her children, there currently is, as Mrs. Maloney
stated, a 10-day waiting period between the time when the court
determines that money is owed for the kids and when the State agencies
can start collecting that money. As a result, here across America there
is about $100 billion in unpaid child support. In the State of Maine
alone, there is over $500 million that is owed our kids.
This bill, H.R. 2091, the Child Support Assistance Act, fixes a
technical part of this law that is a commonsense fix. As Mrs. Maloney
stated, it removes this 10-day waiting period.
Now, what that simply means is that a parent who is supposed to be
responsible for his or her children will have less of an opportunity,
less time to shift those assets or hide those assets, put them in the
name of someone else or maybe even quit his or her job and be paid
under the table.
That is not right, and that is certainly not fair. We need in this
Chamber Republicans and Democrats to stand up and be compassionate and
to help those 17 million kids across our country that need this
support.
As a single parent myself, I know what it is like to work a demanding
full-time job and to care for a child. In my case, it was one child, my
son. I know what it is like to pick up my son after school and then to
rush off to the grocery store to do our shopping and get home quickly
so I can start dinner and he can start working on his homework. When
that is done, we have to clean up and I expect Sammy to do his reading
or I read to him and then it is a bath and to bed.
Then while you are working on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for
the next day and thinking about what you have to do with your own job,
you get a few hours' sleep after that before you have to do it all over
again.
I cannot imagine, Mr. Speaker, what it must be like for a single mom
or dad to do this with two, three, or four kids. The last thing our
single parents need is to worry about child support payments that they
are rightly owed, that the court says they are due, to help their kids
have food on the table or buy a new pair of winter boots or to make
sure there is lunch money the next day.
In this Chamber, Mr. Speaker, we speak about a lot of things--debt
and spending and national security issues--but this bill is so close to
the ground that it directly and immediately will help our kids and our
single parents who are trying to raise our kids under very difficult
circumstances for a lot of them.
I am thrilled to offer this bill, Mr. Speaker. I am greatly
appreciative of the tremendous bipartisan support. I do thank Mr.
Ellison for all of his hard work on this bill. I encourage everybody to
please support the Child Support Assistance Act.
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I have no further
speakers. I just urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bill
that Mr. Poliquin pointed out can make a real difference in the lives
of single parents and their children. Again, I thank him for his
leadership on it and his very eloquent statement today on the floor.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Costello).
Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, too many children grow up
in today's society without basic essentials: food, clothing, proper
shelter. Many times this is the result of a lack of child support
payments from an estranged parent.
I have a young boy, and I can tell you he takes a lot of energy out
of my wife and me. We do everything we can to support him to our
fullest with love and all the basic essentials, but not all children
are that lucky. Some are due child support payments that they don't
receive.
I know our local district attorneys do a lot in furtherance and
sheriff's departments do a lot in furtherance of collecting those child
support payments, but Congressman Poliquin's commonsense measure here,
the Child Support Assistance Act, is going to help State and local
enforcement agencies aid families in collecting child support payments
in a timely manner.
How is that going to happen? It is going to allow enforcement
agencies to obtain consumer reports on negligent parents in a more
expeditious manner. Consequently, that is going to streamline the
process and better enforce the collection of child support payments.
I believe Representative Poliquin stated it very eloquently just a
moment ago. This is something that we can all get behind. It is for the
good of this country. It is for the good of children across America.
Let's be proud as we ensure that our children have the resources to
succeed, with this legislation being a positive step in the right
direction.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 2091.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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