    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 53 (Monday, January 4, 1999)]
    [Pages 2539-2540]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on Efforts To Increase Child Support Collections

    December 31, 1998

        Since I became President, my administration has waged an
    unprecedented campaign to make deadbeat parents pay the support their
    children need and deserve. Today we have new evidence that our efforts
    are working: child support collections have gone up a record 80 percent
    since I took office, from $8 billion in 1992 to an estimated $14.4
    billion in 1998. But we must do more to ensure that each and every
    parent honors his obligation to his children. That is why my new

    [[Page 2540]]

    budget will propose new funds to help identify, investigate, and
    prosecute deadbeat parents. This effort will include new investigative
    teams in five regions of the country to identify, analyze, and
    investigate cases for criminal prosecution, and an eightfold increase in
    legal support personnel to help prosecute these new cases. With
    continued commitment and this new funding, we can do even more to
    support our Nation's children.