[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15708-15709]
[From the U.S. 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 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.

[[Page 15709]]

  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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