[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.