[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11271-11277]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          SENSE OF THE HOUSE REGARDING RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD

  Mr. SOUDER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 522) expressing the sense of the House of 
Representatives regarding the importance of responsible fatherhood.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 522

       Whereas studies reveal that even in high-crime, inner-city 
     neighborhoods, well over 90 percent of children from safe, 
     stable, two-parent homes do not become delinquents;
       Whereas in 1998, 1.2 million babies, or 33 percent of all 
     newborns, were born out of wedlock;
       Whereas children with fathers at home tend to do better in 
     school, are less prone to depression, and have more 
     successful relationships;
       Whereas premature infants whose fathers spend ample time 
     playing with them have better cognitive outcomes and children 
     who have higher-than-average self-esteem and lower-than-
     average depression report having a close relationship with 
     their father;
       Whereas both boys and girls demonstrate a greater ability 
     to take initiative and evidence self-control when they are 
     reared with fathers who are actively involved in their 
     upbringing;
       Whereas although mothers often work tremendously hard to 
     rear their children in a nurturing environment, a mother can 
     benefit from the positive support of a father for her 
     children;
       Whereas it is recognized that to promote responsible 
     fatherhood is in no way meant to denigrate the standing or 
     parenting of single mothers, but rather to increase the 
     chances that children will have two caring parents to help 
     them grow up healthy and secure;
       Whereas a broad array of America's leading family and child 
     development experts agree that it is in the best interests of 
     children and the nation as a whole to encourage more two-
     parent, father involved families;
       Whereas, according to a 1996 Gallup Poll, 79.1 percent of 
     Americans believe the most significant family or social 
     problem facing America is the physical absence of the father 
     from the home and the resulting lack of involvement of 
     fathers in the rearing and development of their children;
       Whereas, according to the Bureau of the Census, in 1996, 
     16,993,000 children in the United States (one-fourth of all 
     children in the United States) lived in families in which a 
     father was absent;
       Whereas, according to a 1996 Gallup Poll, 90.9 percent of 
     Americans believe ``it is important for children to live in a 
     home with both their mother and their father'';
       Whereas it is estimated that half of all United States 
     children born today will spend at least half their childhood 
     in a family in which a father figure is absent;
       Whereas the United States is now the world's leader in 
     fatherless families, according to the United States Bureau of 
     the Census;
       Whereas estimates of the likelihood that marriages will end 
     in divorce range from 40 percent to 50 percent, and 
     approximately 3 out of every 5 divorcing couples have at 
     least one child;
       Whereas almost half of all 11- through 16-year-old children 
     who live in mother-headed homes have not seen their father in 
     the last 12 months;
       Whereas the likelihood that a young male will engage in 
     criminal activity doubles if he is reared without a father 
     and triples if he lives in a neighborhood with a high 
     concentration of single-parent families;

[[Page 11272]]

       Whereas a study of juveniles in state reform institutions 
     found that 70 percent grew up in single or no parent 
     situations;
       Whereas children of single-parents are less likely to 
     complete high school and more likely to have low earnings and 
     low employment stability as adults than children reared in 
     two-parent families;
       Whereas a 1990 Los Angeles Times poll found that 57 percent 
     of all fathers and 55 percent of all mothers feel guilty 
     about not spending enough time with their children;
       Whereas almost 20 percent of 6th through 12th graders 
     report that they have not had a good conversation lasting for 
     at least 10 minutes with at least one of their parents in 
     more than a month;
       Whereas, according to a Gallup poll, over 50 percent of all 
     adults agreed that fathers today spend less time with their 
     children than their fathers spent with them;
       Whereas President Clinton has stated that ``the single 
     biggest social problem in our society may be the growing 
     absence of fathers from their children's homes because it 
     contributes to so many other social problems'' and that ``the 
     real source of the [welfare] problem is the inordinate number 
     of out of wedlock births in this country'';
       Whereas the Congressional Task Force on Fatherhood 
     Promotion and the Senate Task Force on Fatherhood Promotion 
     were both formed in 1997, and the Governors Fatherhood Task 
     Force was formed in February 1998, and the Mayors Task Force 
     was formed in June 1999;
       Whereas a growing number of community-based organizations 
     are implementing outreach support and skills building 
     programs for fathers;
       Whereas a disproportionate amount of Federal dollars are 
     spent on crime, a social symptom, as compared to addressing 
     the principal underlying cause of crime: an increasing 
     absence of fathers from the home;
       Whereas the Congressional Task Force on Fatherhood 
     Promotion is exploring the social changes that are required 
     to ensure that every child is reared with a father who is 
     committed to being actively involved in the rearing and 
     development of his children;
       Whereas the National Fatherhood Initiative holds an annual 
     National Summit on Fatherhood in Washington, D.C., with the 
     purpose of mobilizing a response to father absence in several 
     of the most powerful sectors of society, including public 
     policy, public and private social services, education, 
     religion, entertainment, the media, and the civic community; 
     and
       Whereas the promotion of fatherhood is a bipartisan issue: 
     Now, therefore, be it
         Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
         (1) recognizes that the creation of a better America 
     depends in large part on the active involvement of fathers in 
     the rearing and development of their children;
         (2) urges each father in America to accept his full share 
     of responsibility for the lives of his children, to be 
     actively involved in rearing his children, and to encourage 
     the academic, moral, and spiritual development of his 
     children;
         (3) urges governments and institutions at every level to 
     remove barriers to father involvement and enact public 
     policies that encourage and support the efforts of fathers 
     who want to become more engaged in the lives of their 
     children;
         (4) encourages each father to devote time, energy, and 
     resources to his children, recognizing that children need not 
     only material support, but more importantly a secure, 
     nurturing, family environment; and
         (5) expresses its support for the National Fatherhood 
     Initiative, and its work to inspire and equip fathers to be 
     positively involved in the raising and development of their 
     children.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Souder) and the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SOUDER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks on H. Res. 522.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Indiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SOUDER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, first I want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Pitts) for his leadership on this issue. It is no secret that 
children who have fathers in the home tend to do better in school, have 
more success in relationships, and get into less trouble. I would like 
also to publicly thank for making our country more aware of this Dr. 
Wade Horn of the National Fatherhood Institute as well as Dr. David 
Blankenhorn for their years of leadership on this issue.
  Although mothers often work tremendously hard to rear their children 
in a nurturing environment, a mother can benefit from the positive 
support of the father of her children. A broad array of America's 
leading family and child development experts agree that it is in the 
best interests of children and the Nation as a whole to encourage more 
two-parent, father-involved families.
  According to a 1996 Gallup Poll, 79.1 percent of Americans believed 
that the most significant family or social problem facing America is 
the physical absence of the father in the home and the resulting lack 
of involvement of fathers in the rearing and development of their 
children. According to the Bureau of the Census in 1996, 16,993,000 
children in the United States, one-fourth of all the children in the 
United States, lived in families in which a father was absent.
  The United States is now the world's leader in fatherless families 
according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and the likelihood that a young 
male will engage in criminal activity doubles if he is reared without a 
father and triples if he lives in a neighborhood with a high 
concentration of single-parent families.
  According to a Gallup Poll, over 50 percent of all adults agreed that 
fathers today spend less time with their children than their fathers 
spent with them. It is not just a problem of fathers who are not ever 
there but fathers who nominally live in the home and do not spend time 
with their children.
  President Clinton has stated that ``the single biggest social problem 
in our society may be the growing absence of fathers from their 
children's homes because it contributes to so many other social 
problems.'' President Clinton continued, ``The real source of the 
welfare problem is the inordinate number of out-of-wedlock births in 
this country.''
  A growing number of community-based organizations are implementing 
outreach support and skills-building programs for fathers. I have 
personally worked with many of these. We recognize that the creation of 
a better America depends in large part on the active involvement of 
fathers in the rearing and development of their children.
  As supporters of this resolution, we urge each father in America to 
accept his full share of responsibility for the lives of his children, 
to be actively involved in the rearing of his children, and to 
encourage the academic, moral and spiritual development of those 
children.
  Some argue that nothing can be done, but Governor Frank Keating in 
Oklahoma has an excellent plan through his human services division 
leader, Jerry Regire, that illustrates exactly what can be done at the 
State level and some at the Federal level.
  Madam Speaker, at the end of my remarks I will include for the Record 
an article that appeared in yesterday's Washington Post by Barbara 
Dafoe Whitehead.
  I would like to just quote at this time a few things from this 
excellent article. Barbara Dafoe Whitehead has been a leader in efforts 
to encourage father involvement for at least 15 years. When I first was 
Republican staff director at the Children Family Committee here in 
Congress, she worked with us as we tried to raise this issue as we saw 
the problem exploding in our country.
  Her column starts:

       A couple of months ago, amid the Elian Gonzalez 
     controversy, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno issued a 
     remarkable statement on the nature of fatherhood. The United 
     States, she told a news conference, is a Nation, quote, 
     ``whose law and whose very moral foundation recognize that 
     there is a bond, a special, wonderful, sacred bond between 
     father and son.''

  She continued in her column:

       Take a look at the Father's Day cards in any neighborhood 
     drug store. There alongside the classic greetings for fathers 
     and stepfathers are cards aimed at the alternative dads. For 
     the last few years there have been cards for children to send 
     to their fathers who don't live with them. They carry 
     sentiments like this one: ``I miss you more than ever, Daddy, 
     now that it's Father's Day

[[Page 11273]]

     and even though I'm too far away to hug you with my arms, I 
     just want you to know I'll be hugging you in my heart.''

  ``This year at my CVS,'' Barbara Dafoe Whitehead continued,

       There are two new sections of Father's Day cards. One is 
     under a sign reading ``Like a Father.'' The cards feature 
     such messages as: ``Just wanted to thank you for all the ways 
     you've been a daddy.'' The second section, poignantly labeled 
     ``Anybody,'' contains greetings aimed at a generic good guy, 
     including one Father's Day message for the Good Man who 
     spreads happiness everywhere he goes. These cards suggest 
     that Father's Day might be morphing into Positive Male Role 
     Model Day. There's even a positive male role model card for 
     Mom, a woman who's done all the things that a father usually 
     does.
       You don't find a parallel range in Mother's Day cards.

  She concludes this excellent article by saying:

       As marriage has faded, fatherhood has split along the seam 
     between biology and sociology. But more than anything else,

  She concludes:

       This project of trying to cobble together one father from 
     several kinds of daddies is contrary to what kids want and 
     need. Anyone who raises children knows that they are natural 
     social conservatives. They like order, except perhaps in 
     their bedrooms, stability, constancy, permanence and the 
     security of having fathers worry about them rather than 
     having the reverse responsibility of worrying about their 
     father. And as much as they may benefit from and enjoy their 
     relationships with other male role models, they aren't likely 
     to confuse coaches or mentors with the real dad. Retrograde 
     as it may sound, most kids still want one father who fulfills 
     multiple roles all the time rather than several fathers who 
     fulfill a few of the roles some of the time. But today too 
     many kids have to content themselves with the kind of 
     fatherhood that is as paper thin as a sentiment on a Father's 
     Day greeting card.

               [From the Washington Post, June 18, 2000]

                          Close, But No Cigar

                      (By Barbara Dafoe Whitehead)

       A couple of months ago, amid the Elian Gonzalez 
     controversy, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno issued a 
     remarkable statement on the nature of fatherhood. The United 
     States, she told a news conference, is a nation ``whose law 
     and whose very moral foundation recognize that there is a 
     bond, a special, wonderful sacred bond between father and 
     son. . . .''
       A tender sentiment? Sure. A true description? Hardly. 
     Reno's statement is remarkable chiefly because of how 
     thoroughly at odds it is with fatherhood as we now know it.
       America no longer has a ``special'' model of fatherhood--
     let alone one buttressed by legal, moral and religious 
     opinion. In a well-intentioned effort to make up for 
     vanishing fathers and disintegrating families, and to give 
     support to the legions of foster fathers and stepfathers and 
     mentors and Big Brothers and role models out there. American 
     law and civil society have diluted the concept of fatherhood 
     until it is almost unrecognizable. What began as a 
     conscientious response to a crisis is hardening into 
     something like the new status quo. We once saw sometime, 
     part-time or once-upon-a-time fathers as inadequate 
     substitutes for a full-fledged father; now we are selling 
     ourselves on the idea that they are all kids really want or 
     need.
       Unfortunately, while fatherhood has changed, childhood has 
     not. Children still need love, protection, security and, 
     perhaps most of all, stability in their lives. Many of the 
     new varieties of fatherhood don't give that to kids. They're 
     too geographically remote, too emotionally distant, too 
     legally fuzzy or circumscribed, or too fleeting to do so.
       No one would dream of trying to convince children that 
     their mother could be replaced by several different kinds of 
     mothers, all playing different roles at different times in 
     their lives. But that is exactly what we are communicating to 
     the many children whose fathers are absent, distant or 
     unknown.
       Take a look at the Father's Day cards in any neighborhood 
     drugstore. There, alongside the classic greetings for fathers 
     and stepfathers, are cards aimed at the alternative dads. For 
     the last few years there have been cards for children to send 
     to fathers who don't live with them. They carry sentiments 
     like this one: I miss you more than ever Daddy, now that it's 
     Father's Day/and even though I'm too far away to hug you with 
     my arms, I just want you to know I'll be hugging you in my 
     heart.
       This year, at my local CVS, there are two new sections of 
     Father's Day cards. One is under a sign reading ``Like a 
     Father.'' The cards feather such messages as: Just want to 
     thank you for all the ways you've been a daddy. The second 
     section, poignantly labeled ``Anybody,'' contains greetings 
     aimed at a generic good guy, including one Father's Day 
     message for the Good Man who spreads happiness everywhere he 
     goes. These cards suggest that Father's Day might be morphing 
     into Positive Male Role Model Day. There's even a Positive 
     Male Role Model card for Mom, A woman who's done all the 
     things a father usually does.
       You don't find a parallel range of Mother's Day greetings. 
     Despite all the dramatic changes in women's lives over recent 
     decades, little has occurred to shake what Janet Reno might 
     call the moral and legal foundations of motherhood.
       Consider how different the Elian case would have been if it 
     had been the boy's father who had died, and his mother who 
     wanted him back. Few would have questioned the mother's right 
     to her shipwrecked son. To state what is painfully apparent 
     to many children today, the bond to a mother is rock solid, 
     but the bond to a father isn't.
       Although both motherhood and fatherhood have both 
     biological and sociological dimensions, these dimensions are 
     virtually fused in motherhood, especially during a child's 
     early years. To an infant, a mother's body is both life and 
     food, nature and nurture. This isn't true of fatherhood. 
     Biologically, a father is a one-minute parent. (Consider 
     sperm donors.) Indeed, a man can become a father and be the 
     last to know, sometimes years after the fact.
       What's more, his biological contribution does not naturally 
     dictate his sociological role. Sociological fatherhood is a 
     lot like being a designated driver. Men can choose to take on 
     the role and the effort it involves, either through the 
     institution of marriage or through other kinds of ties to the 
     mother and her family--and they can also choose not to. 
     Because of this more tenuous connection, fatherhood is 
     universally problematic. All societies face the challenge of 
     connecting biological and sociological fatherhood in some 
     fashion in order to make sure children are protected and 
     supported over time.
       Within living memory, of course, there was a single 
     prevailing model of fatherhood in America. In it, a father 
     was connected to his children by three ties. The first was 
     blood, or its legal equivalent, adoption. The second was a 
     shared household with the mother of his biological or adopted 
     children. The third was marriage to the mother of these 
     children. In this model, marriage was the most important of 
     the three because it bound the other two ties together.
       With the new dads, one or more--or even all--of these ties 
     may be missing. For example, some men have a blood tie to 
     their children but have never had a residential, marital, or 
     any other meaningful tie to them. Others have a blood tie to 
     their children but are divorced from the mother and no longer 
     share the children's primary residence. Still others are 
     married stepfathers who live with their wife and her 
     biological children, voluntarily contribute to supporting and 
     raising the children but have no blood tie to them. A fast-
     growing father group includes cohabiting men who live with 
     the children but are not married to their mother; some have 
     blood ties to the kids but others are ``stepfathers'' who are 
     unrelated. And then there are the exes--ex-stepfathers, ex-
     foster dads or ex-boyfriends--who have no biological or legal 
     tie to the children but once played some kind of father role 
     in their lives. There are also the father figures--mentors, 
     Big Brothers, coaches, clergy--who have no biological, legal, 
     marital or residential tie to the children.
       This tangle of father types creates all kinds of problems 
     over nomenclature--what do you call the man who lived with 
     your mother for a while and still comes by now and then to 
     take you to ballgames?--which probably explains why 
     ``Anybody'' is a growing niche is greeting card market.
       As marriage has faded, fatherhood has split along the seam 
     between biology and sociology. For example, the state defines 
     the biological male parent as the father, and if paternity is 
     established--either voluntarily by signing a birth 
     certificate or involuntarily with a DNA test--he can be 
     compelled to support his child. Other forms of paternal 
     support and contact may be desirable, even encouraged, but 
     nowhere does the state require a biological father to do 
     anything more than enter into a financial arrangement. This 
     is an essential but breathtakingly minimalist model of 
     fatherhood. It defines daddy down to a name on a birth 
     certificate and a signature on a child-support check.
       Other segments of the society, from families to churches to 
     child advocates, define fatherhood functionally as the 
     provision of constancy, caring and affection. Men other than 
     a biological father--stepfathers, co-habiting fathers, 
     unrelated cohabiting partners, neighbors and male relatives 
     and friends--can play the role of the social father. So can 
     male mentors who are not romantically involved with the 
     child's mother but volunteer for the role of social father 
     out of the goodness of their hearts.
       In a best-case scenario, you can patch together both kinds 
     of father and come close to meeting the requirements of full-
     fledged fatherhood. A biological father contributes money and 
     perhaps some time; a sociological father or two picks up the 
     slack. And, indeed, for some fortunate children, a 
     combination of fathers adds up to more paternal time, money, 
     and attention, not less.
       But face it--in many more cases, these attempts to attach 
     children to a variety of fathers aren't panning out. Fathers 
     are now increasingly less likely to live with their 
     biological children--35 percent of children today live apart 
     from their biological fathers. And

[[Page 11274]]

     when they live apart, the father's involvement tends to 
     diminish over time. As for the idea that we can replace 
     biological fathers with father-surrogates, it's a comforting 
     notion but recent experience suggests just how hard it is to 
     pull off. Mentoring programs are particularly struggling to 
     keep pace with growing caseloads of fatherless boys, a task 
     requiring endless recruitment campaigns, background checks 
     and training sessions and still falling short.
       As it turns out, finding and keeping a father for every 
     child who lacks one is a tall order. It takes money and 
     lavish amounts of effort and invention--not to mention DNA 
     tests, hospital birth registration programs, child support 
     orders, visitation agreements, public service announcements 
     and community fatherhood campaigns--to scrape together what 
     are still more term-limited and fleeting forms of fatherhood.
       As marriage has faded, fatherhood has split along the seam 
     between biology and sociology.
       But more than anything else, this project of trying to 
     cobble together one father from several kinds of daddies is 
     contrary to what kids want and need. Anyone who raises 
     children knows that they are natural social conservatives. 
     They like order (except perhaps in their bedrooms), 
     stability, constancy, permanence and security of having 
     fathers worry about them rather than having the reverse 
     responsibility of worrying about their father. And as much as 
     they may benefit from and enjoy their relationships with 
     other male role models, they aren't likely to confuse coaches 
     or mentors with a ``real dad.'' Retrograde as it may sound, 
     most kids still want one father who fulfills multiple roles 
     all of the time rather than several fathers who fulfill a few 
     roles some of the time. But today, too many kids have to 
     content themselves with a kind of fatherhood that is as 
     paper-thin as the sentiment on a Father's Day greeting card.

  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. WU. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, today, one day after Father's Day, we stand before the 
House to encourage the participation of fathers in the growth and 
development of their children. In this bipartisan effort, we note that 
the role of fathers in today's families has always been a prominent 
issue, but much more so in recent years, because too many of our 
children are growing up in homes without the benefit of a father.
  The percentage of children growing up in a home without their father 
nearly tripled between 1960 and the early 1999s. Depending on 
estimates, today, somewhere between the cited figure of 16 million to 
24 million American children are living without their biological 
fathers, and it is a shock to me that fully one-third of children today 
are born out of wedlock.
  Most importantly, fatherless homes have a devastating impact on our 
children. It is both common sense, and research indicates, that without 
a father, children are four times as likely to be poor and twice as 
likely to drop out of school.
  Fatherless children also have a higher risk of suicide, teen 
pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse and delinquency. Clearly, the 
important role that fathers play in the development of their children 
cannot go unnoticed. Unfortunately, the challenges of fatherhood are 
not restricted to those who do not pay child support or so-called 
deadbeat dads.
  Many fathers are caught between their duties at their work and the 
responsibilities to their families. The problems encountered by today's 
families are not limited to deadbeat dads. There are our families who 
are also hampered by deadbeat dads, who want to be there for their 
children, but for one reason or another, cannot.
  As the father of a 3-year-old boy, Matthew, and a 9-month-old girl, 
Sarah Elizabeth, I realize the importance of spending time with my 
children and the pain it seems of always being short on that time. We 
spend a lot of time doing the Nation's business paddling in this rather 
large pond and yet sometimes it does feel to me that once we withdraw 
from this arena, that we will leave behind perhaps what one would leave 
behind if we pulled our hand out of a bucket of water, the Nation's 
business will continue, but I am absolutely confident that I will be 
the only father for my children, and I, like many others, struggle 
constantly with the needs of the Nation, the needs of our family, and 
the needs of providing for both.
  Madam Speaker, I am encouraged by the work of the Congressional 
Fatherhood Promotion Task Force. Their efforts, throughout this 
resolution and other activities have begun to focus attention on the 
very important issues of complete families, fatherhood and parental 
participation. I believe this resolution sends a very strong signal to 
America, and it is a bipartisan resolution that all Members should 
support.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SOUDER. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my 
friend, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts), who has been a 
tireless leader since he came to Congress. Many Americans may not 
realize what a driving force he has been, not only on the issue of 
fatherhood, but in family values in general, and I am proud to consider 
him my friend and thank him again for his leadership on this 
resolution.
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, as a cochairman of the Congressional Task 
Force on Fatherhood Promotion, I am very pleased to rise to speak in 
favor of this resolution.
  First of all, I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) 
for his leadership in putting together this bipartisan effort to move 
the resolution. Statistics show that the American family is under siege 
as an institution.
  Divorce rates are very high. Single parenthood is becoming more and 
more common in communities all across the Nation.
  About one-third of all babies in this country born are born out of 
wedlock today. For some demographic groups, that rate is as high as 70 
percent. Tonight, one in four American children that go to bed will go 
to bed in a home in which their father does not reside.
  Times have certainly changed. In 1960, more than 80 percent of 
America's children lived with both of their parents in a home where 
both parents were married.
  In the last census, that number dropped to 57.7 percent. When a 
family breaks apart in divorce, children most often live with their 
mother. The effects of growing up without a father are becoming clear.
  According to the 1996 Gallup poll, 79.1 percent of Americans feel, 
and I quote, ``the most significant family or social problem facing 
America is the physical absence of the father from the home.''
  I will never forget hearing the famous psychiatrist Dr. Armond Nicoli 
speak about fathers and the importance of spending time with their 
children. He had done a study of the fathers in the 128 corridor around 
Boston and, actually, calculated the amount of time in minutes that a 
father spent with his children today and compared that with fathers in 
Russia, and he made this point. He said some people say, well, I do not 
spend a lot of time with my children, but the time I spend is quality 
time. And then he said, you know, quality of time, like the quality of 
air and oxygen is very important, but the lack of it will kill you.
  It is important that we spend time and spend a good amount of time 
with our children. What role does a father play in a home? Well, I am 
sure we all have our own stories and mine is not necessarily right, but 
some of the things I used to try to do is I spent 3 days a week in the 
State Capitol away from my children, and every night I would get them 
on the phone and talk to each one of them on the phone.
  I would schedule breakfast every quarter, every third month with each 
of them individually out in a restaurant with them, to listen to them, 
to talk to them. It was a wonderful time, and my kids are all grown, 
they still like to have breakfast with me.
  I still send them each a letter every month. There are lots of 
different kinds of things that we can do. As families we can read to 
them every evening. There are so many times and things that we can do 
to express our love and spend our time with our children. Some men 
perhaps make better fathers than others, I suppose, but clearly, 
overall, children with two parents are greatly benefitted by it.
  Thank God for our single parents and our single moms, but they need 
help,

[[Page 11275]]

and studies show that even in a high crime or an inner-city 
neighborhood, well over 90 percent of children from safe, stable two 
parent homes do not become delinquents. Children with fathers at home 
tend to do better in school. They are less prone to depression, and 
they have more successful relationships.
  The National Fatherhood Initiative founded by Dr. Wade Horn and Don 
Eberly from my district have helped to stem the tide of children being 
raised in homes without fathers.
  Dr. Horn tells us that when the National Fatherhood Initiative was 
founded, the topic of fatherhood was still not considered an issue of 
national significance. The first and the most important task that NFI 
set out to accomplish was to stimulate a broad-based societywide social 
movement on behalf of involved, committed, responsible fatherhood.
  The National Fatherhood Initiative is doing a very effective job, I 
think, and celebrities like Tom Selleck, James Earl Jones, Tiger Woods 
and his father Earl, General Colin Powell, Coach Joe Paterno have all 
lent their names and efforts to this cause.
  I, along with several other Members in Congress, have come together 
to form this task force on fatherhood promotion trying to raise the 
profile of the issue by legislative have means, and the NFI has been 
very successful.
  Thousands of community-based grassroots programs designed to provide 
support, skills, encouragement to fathers have sprung up all over the 
country. Dozens of governors have held fatherhood conferences. 
Fatherlessness is getting the attention that it finally deserves.
  According to the 1996 Gallup poll, 90.9 percent of parents believe it 
is important for children to live in a home with both father and 
mother.
  This resolution recognizes that the creation of a better country 
depends in large part on the active involvement of both parents, 
fathers in helping, rearing and developing their children.
  This resolution urges each father in America to accept his full share 
of responsibility for the lives of his children, to be actively 
involved in rearing his children, to encourage the academic moral, 
spiritual development of his children.
  This resolution urges governments and institutions at every level to 
remove barriers to father involvement, to enact public policies that 
are father friendly, that encourage and support the efforts of fathers 
who want to become more engaged in the lives of their children.
  It encourages each father to devote time, energy and resources to his 
children, recognizing that children need not only material support, but 
also, more importantly, a secure, and nurturing, family environment.
  Finally, this resolution expresses our support for the National 
Fatherhood Initiative, its work to inspire and equip fathers to be 
positively involved in raising and developing their children.
  Madam Speaker, the family is the core of American society. As goes 
the American family, so goes America. The most important thing we can 
do is to make sure the American family is on a strong footing, and that 
means restoring American fatherhood.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this resolution.
  Mr. WU. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson).
  Ms. CARSON. Madam Speaker, I am certainly appreciative of my 
colleagues and the other gentlemen who have come together to form the 
Congressional Fatherhood Task Force and appreciative of their work.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to preface my remarks by saying that I am 
probably one of the few Members in Congress who knows how it is to grow 
up in a home with a single parent, and that does not in any way 
distract from the good work of my dear mother, obviously, I am now in 
Congress. I know that she smiles upon me from heaven, and it was indeed 
a struggle, and I would have wanted very much to have had a father in 
the home. So I guess my remarks are not only those that are prepared, 
but ones that speaks from the heart, having lived and breathed a single 
parent household for all of my childhood life.
  David Blankethorn published a book, Madam Speaker, and Members called 
Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem, 
criticizing the American culture and social institutions for 
undermining the father's role in the family and weakening the bond 
between men and their children.
  This book along with many other publications provides, I believe, a 
foundation for the fatherhood movement that has surged over the last 5 
years, and I am so happy that we are now about to do the business about 
giving some vital and needed attention to this whole question of 
fatherhood and what fatherhood is and what it is not in terms of our 
children across the country.
  Society and our many systems would have us believe that financial 
support from fathers is a primary need for many of our children that 
are currently being raised by single mothers. Unfortunately, financial 
support from fathers is not the only need of these children and in some 
instances may not be the critical need as we have been led to believe. 
Emotional support, love and stability is just as important for a child 
as financial support from a father.
  Fathers are important to their children and should play an important 
role in their lives beyond the role of being the breadwinner. Poor 
children need love and support just like any other children. Fathers 
need to have a relationship with their children regardless of their 
financial status. Unfortunately, many poor fathers are viewed as 
deadbeat dads instead of dead broke dads. It is not that these fathers 
are unwillingly to financially support their children, it is that they 
are unable to do so due to many societal challenges, unemployment and 
underemployment.
  I believe it is imperative to recognize the importance of the 
noncustodial father for their efforts instead of berating them for 
their inability to pay a fixed amount of child support each month. Many 
fathers are active in the lives of their children because they want to 
be very active in the lives of their children not because they have to 
be active in the lives of their children. Some men are silent, 
unfortunately, cohabitating with partners without the benefit of 
marriage, because the women sometimes see very limited income from 
welfare, and the presence of the father would jeopardize the household 
from getting the kind of benefits that are available for a mother and 
child.
  Many women who are low income, underemployed would very much like for 
the child's father to be there and provide some of the support that 
they need.
  We understand that a lot of the fathers, when they suffer from low 
literacy and poor employment history and, unfortunately, the wars in 
which America has been engaged has perpetuated a lot of substance abuse 
and a lot of fatherless children.
  There is an array of issues, Madam Speaker, that we should be 
examining as a United States Congress to see if we can dismantle some 
of the obstacles that prevent fathers from being with their children 
and develop policy that encourages rather than discourage the 
fermenting of the family unit.

                              {time}  1515

  It is time for us to support responsible fatherhood. I support the 
amendment enthusiastically and applaud the vision and the creativity of 
my colleagues in this august body for bringing it before this chamber. 
I would encourage support.
  Mr. WU. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I want to observe that there are as many different 
forms of families in America as there are families. I think that the 
vast majority of fathers do want to be present, but there are times 
when needs draw us apart.
  My family history is that which just about every American family has 
shared at one time or another in their respective family histories. My 
dad came to America when I was 4 months

[[Page 11276]]

old, and he was physically absent from my youth until I was about 7. 
But even though he was physically absent, he was always a presence in 
our family. I knew him from little blue aerograms, toys at holiday 
times, and chocolate bars. But to me he was always the heroic figure 
who was cutting the new path in America, and there was a deep purpose 
to his absence.
  Compared to the sacrifices that my parents went through, my weekly 
separations from my children seem like little pikers in comparison. 
That is what helps me get through those periods of separation, and I 
guess I just want to recognize that there are common threads in all 
American families. We share the will to make sacrifices for a common 
good, for the future of the family, and we have to fight it in 
different ways. But if fathers are to be absent for short periods of 
time, or for long, let it be for purposeful activity, for truly 
overriding important factors in the family history and family life.
  It is a pattern of sacrifice that we are called to at times, but if 
there is not this overriding incredible purpose, sense of history and 
sense of where the family must go, then I strongly encourage fathers to 
be with their children, to be with their families as much as possible, 
to not go through the travails of separation and sometimes the travails 
of reunion.
  Madam Speaker, I urge the adoption of this bipartisan resolution.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SOUDER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, first I want to thank my friend from Oregon on the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce for his moving statement and 
his support of this resolution, and my fellow Hoosier, the gentlewoman 
from Indianapolis, Indiana (Ms. Carson), for her personal statement and 
general statement in support of this resolution as well.
  It is kind of awkward for us in Congress. One of the things that I 
hear probably most frequently at the personal level from other Members 
is the struggle of those of us who still have kids at home and the 
relationship to those kids and trying to do this duty. It is very easy 
to feel guilty in this job, unless you are a very kind of hard-skinned 
person.
  Many of us tend to blame any problems we have with our kids on the 
fact that we are separated at times, when, in fact, we might still have 
those problems there. But it is very easy to worry about those, and 
each of us try to deal with it in different ways, whether it is 
bringing our families here; whether it is trying to travel with them, I 
use my frequent flier miles to try to bring my kids with me to 
different hearings and different events; trying to call home each 
night; trying to e-mail, when I can remember my quick-dot-name, my 
handle; whether is it is losing video games to your kids at home on a 
regular basis, I do not think I have ever won, unless I do not play 
fair.
  It is something that they need that time, and it is something we 
struggle with. But it is a balance of setting an example. But then when 
you set the example, or when you try to inspire your kids, you also 
have an extra responsibility, as many of us do in this House, to reach 
out to our children, because if we lose our family and gain the world, 
we have lost everything. It is very easy to do that here, and if we are 
going to pass resolutions like this, we have to get our own house in 
order first and be an example, because the people who watch us in our 
home towns and the people who watch us around the country say, ``Well, 
look at them. They will pass a resolution in Congress, but what are 
they doing with their own families?''
  We have tried to address some of the policy questions that were 
raised too, whether it is in welfare reform and the accountability of 
child support, because at the very minimum, the kids deserve the 
financial support when a dad abandons.
  We also tried to address child abuse. It is so hard for me to 
understand any father who could physically or sexually or verbally 
abuse their children. You talk about an anathema, how could a dad who 
loves their kids beat their kids? I just do not understand that, and it 
is something we are wrestling with in our society.
  We praise all the moms who stood in for the dads that have abandoned 
their kids. We praise all the coaches, all the mentors, all the 
volunteers in this country who stepped up and stood in the gap when the 
dad abandons their families.
  But the purpose of this resolution is to say that the men of America, 
the dads in America, need to stand up. If you are not home, get home, 
and get involved in your kids' life. If you are there, as much as 
possible, do not just go off into your basketball leagues and your 
bowling leagues and out to golf and go out with your friends. Spend 
time with your kids. You will regret it the rest of your life if you do 
not, and the country has to pay the consequence.
  Mr. GOODLING. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 522 
offered by my colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Pitts. 
House Resolution 522 expresses the importance of fathers in the rearing 
and development of their children. This resolution enjoys bipartisan 
support, including both the Republican and Democrat leadership and I am 
pleased to have the opportunity this afternoon to speak on behalf of 
it.
  This resolution is timely. Yesterday, we celebrated Father's Day, a 
holiday that was started in 1910 in Spokane, Washington by Sonora 
Louise Smart Dodd. Ms. Dodd wanted to honor and thank her father for 
raising her and her five siblings after her mother died in childbirth.
  It was recognized nationally in 1972 by President Nixon to honor the 
significant role fathers play in the upbringing of their children.
  Although families across the country just recognized and honored 
fathers, we should be concerned about the fact that the United States 
is the world's leader in fatherless families. In fact, it is estimated 
that half of all United States children born today will spend at least 
half of their childhood in a family in which the father is absent.
  Madam Speaker, every child has a father, but not every child has a 
dad and the consequences of not having father figures are 
disheartening. Studies have shown that children who are reared by a 
single parent are less likely to complete high school, earn less, and 
have lower employment stability than children reared in two-parent 
families.
  In a study of juveniles in state reform institutions, it was found 
that 70 percent of such juveniles grew up in single or no parent homes. 
Additionally, it has been found that in high-crime, inner-city 
neighborhoods, well over 90 percent of children from safe, stable, two-
parent homes do not become delinquent.
  Madam Speaker, those examples serve to illustrate my strong belief 
that nothing can replace the father in a child's life. Fathers are role 
models and offer their children the most important ingredients that 
they should have throughout their childhood: love, guidance, 
discipline, encouragement, experience, trust and faith.
  This resolution rightly recognizes that the creation of a better 
America depends in large part on the active involvement of fathers in 
the rearing and development of their children.
  H. Res. 522 urges each father in America to accept his full share of 
responsibility for the lives of his children, to be actively involved 
in rearing his children, and to encourage the academic, moral and 
spiritual development of his children.
  I commend the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his leadership in 
authoring this resolution and urge my colleagues to adopt this measure.
  Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma. Madam Speaker, today I rise as a cosponsor and 
supporter of H. Res. 522. I commend the gentleman from Pennsylvania, 
Mr. Pitts on this fine piece of legislation.
  This past weekend, I was fortunate to be recognized for my work by 
the most important people in America. I was not recognized by some 
organization for my work as a Congressman, but by my children for my 
work as their father. My role as a father is the most important role in 
my life. This past weekend families all over the country celebrated 
Father's Day, and recognized their fathers for all the hard work and 
love and encouragement they provide.
  Today, we here in Washington wish to say thank you to all of the 
fathers who work every day to instill good values in their children. We 
wish to say thank you to all of the fathers who make sure their 
children finish their homework before they go outside to play with 
their friends. We wish to say thank you for making

[[Page 11277]]

your children eat all of those green vegetables before they have those 
Oreo cookies. We wish to say thank you for having the patience to teach 
your children how to catch a baseball, ride a bicycle, say no to drugs, 
and drive a car responsibly. I know it is not always easy to be the guy 
who has to be in all of these places at once, but you all have such an 
important role to your children and our society.
  Finally, I want to say thank you to my father. I remember growing up 
in Eufala, Oklahoma when my father worked three jobs to keep food on 
the table. He still had the time to instill in me the values that have 
made me the man I am today. Thank you Daddy.
  Today I urge all my colleagues to support this piece legislation, and 
send thanks to all of our responsible fathers across this great nation.
  Mr. SOUDER. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res 522.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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