[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21596]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRATULATING ALEIDA VARONA, ADMINISTRATOR OF THE PUERTO RICO CHILD 
SUPPORT ADMINISTRATION, FOR RECEIVING THE COMMISSIONER OF CHILD SUPPORT 
      ENFORCEMENT'S ``ACHIEVEMENT BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY'' AWARD

                                 ______
                                 

                  HON. ANIBAL ACEVEDO-VILA

                             of puerto rico

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 9, 2003

  Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA. Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to 
share some excellent news with my colleagues, and to give credit where 
credit is due. I am very proud to announce that Puerto Rico's Child 
Support Enforcement Administrator, Ms. Aleida Varona, has been singled 
out by the HHS's Administration of Children and Families' Office of 
Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to receive their first ever 
Achievement Beyond the Call of Duty Award. What makes me even more 
proud, especially in these times, is that her ``beyond the call of 
duty'' project was part of the effort to mobilize our troops to Iraq. 
Ms. Varona's award is therefore not only a recognition of her own 
commitment and hard work and that of the administration of Gov. Sila 
Maria Calderon. I believe this award, more importantly, recognizes two 
of the highest values that Puerto Ricans hold dear: the central 
importance of family and our great pride in and loyalty to our country, 
the United States of America.
  I have mentioned before how committed Gov. Sila Calderon and her 
administration is to protecting the well being of our children, and 
especially to making sure that all of Puerto Rico's children receive 
the resources and support they need to grow safely and soundly into 
productive, healthy citizens. Ensuring that every child gets the 
appropriate support from each of their parents is a cornerstone of this 
goal. To achieve this the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has developed one 
of the most modernized and effective Child Support enforcement programs 
in the Nation. Last year, the Commonwealth collected $223 million in 
child support payments for approximately 151,000 families. This amounts 
to three times Puerto Rico's welfare grant--a ratio that is three times 
the national average, even though the average monthly child support 
payment was only $123. Moreover, this represents a nearly 1,200 percent 
return on the federal investment of $18.9 million. The Commonwealth 
also served an additional 86,000 families by helping to locate non-
custodial parents and proving paternity. In addition, last year Puerto 
Rico became the second jurisdiction in the country to move to a 
completely paperless payment system, where all families receive their 
support payments either by direct deposit or an electronic benefit 
transmission card. These achievements speak for themselves as a 
testament to the Commonwealth's commitment to children and to the 
economic self-sufficiency of our families.
  With the recent mobilization of American troops to Iraq, our Child 
Support Enforcement Administration pushed the envelope of achievement 
even further. As you all know, Puerto Ricans are deeply patriotic 
people, and historically, our contributions to the military have also 
exceeded the call of duty. Puerto Rico has one of the highest per 
capita rates of military service in the country. When Operation Iraqi 
Freedom came along it was no different. More than 5,300 National Guard, 
Air National Guard, U.S. Army Reserve and U.S. Marine troops were 
called up in Puerto Rico's largest military mobilization ever. Only 
seven States had larger mobilizations, and more than 1,500 servicemen 
and women remain on active duty in Iraq and Kuwait to this day.
  When called upon by our country, Puerto Ricans have always served 
with pride, and have consistently and willingly endured the sacrifices 
required to fulfill our patriotic duty. We all know that for the 
service men and women that are also Moms and Dads, this is a 
particularly difficult sacrifice, because it means saying goodbye to 
their children. This was where Ms. Varona stepped in. She set up a 
project to give these parents the peace of mind that, whether they had 
custody of their children or not, those children would receive all of 
the support that they are entitled without interruption. This project 
provided these children with the support to which they are entitled, 
even though Daddy had a different job or that they were living with 
Grandma now because Mommy was fighting a war.
  In cooperation with the office of Puerto Rico's Governor and Puerto 
Rico's Department of the Family, Varona partnered with National Guard 
Commanding Officer General Francisco A. Marquez Haddock and Army 
Commander Brigadier General Jose M. Rosado to operate seven Family 
Assistance Centers in the various armories where activated personnel 
were being processed. Varona provided experienced agency employees to 
assist individuals in ensuring that the correct amount of child support 
would be received by service men and women's families during their 
deployment without interruption. This guaranteed that virtually every 
activated soldier subject to a support order received relevant 
orientation services, and if appropriate, participated in a 
modification and/or wage withholding initiation process. It also 
guaranteed that custodial parents had the opportunity to communicate 
changes in the temporary guardianship of their children during their 
deployment.
  This initiative is a vibrant, living testament of Puerto Rico's 
strong tradition of military service. Fittingly, the OCSE changed the 
name of this award, which was originally for customer service, when it 
found out how Ms. Varona did, indeed, go beyond the call of duty to 
ensure the smooth mobilization of our soldiers to Iraq with the least 
disruption possible to their families. Thanks to Ms. Varona's concern 
and commitment to our military personnel and their dependents, and her 
willingness to go the extra mile, Puerto Ricans were able to fulfill 
their vital responsibilities to their country knowing that their 
fundamental responsibilities to their families were being met.

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