Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

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Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the Child Support Distribution Act 2005, which Senator SNOWE and I introduced today. I want to thank Senator SNOWE for her hard work and dedication to this important issue and am proud to have worked with her for many years on this legislation. And I'd like to thank Senators ROCKEFELLER and LANDRIEU for their cosponsorship and support.

Senator SNOWE and I have worked, both separately and in tandem, on issues related to child support for more than ten years. On many occasions, we've come close to seeing the positive changes contained in this legislation enacted. In 2000, a House version of this bill passed by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 405 to 18. In the 108th Congress, our legislation was included in the TANF Reauthorization bill that passed out of the Senate Finance Committee with bipartisan support. This year, S. 6, which was introduced by Senator SANTORUM, and is supported by Majority Leader FRIST and Senators MCCONNELL and HUTCHISON, contains child support provisions that are almost based entirely on the legislation we're discussing today.

This legislation consistently receives bipartisan support because it takes a common sense approach to child support. By passing through more child support funds directly to low-income families, rather than sending it to the federal government, non-custodial parents are more likely pay, and families see a huge benefit from the additional income.

Currently, approximately 60 percent of poor children who live with their mothers and whose fathers live outside the home do not receive child support. Though there are a variety of reasons why non-custodial parents may not be paying support for then children, many don't pay because the system actually discourages them from doing so.

Under current law, $2.1 billion in child support is retained every year by the State and Federal Governments as repayment for welfare benefits--rather than delivered to the children to whom it is owed. Fifty-six percent of that amount is for families who have left welfare. Since the money doesn't benefit their kids, fathers are discouraged from paying support. And mothers have no incentive to push for payment since the support doesn't go to them.

The current rules withhold a key source of income for low-income families that could help them maintain self-sufficiency. According to the Center for Law and Social Policy, child support constitutes 16 percent of family income for low-income households that receive it. For families who leave welfare, this number almost doubles. A Washington State study of families leaving welfare with regular child support payments found that these families found work faster and kept jobs longer, compared to families without steady child support income.

It's time for Congress to change this system and encourage States to distribute more child support to families. My home State of Wisconsin has been a leader in this practice, which has benefited thousands of working families. In 1997, I worked with my State to institute an innovative program of passing through child support payments directly to families. An evaluation of the Wisconsin program clearly shows that when child support payments are delivered to families, non-custodial parents are more apt to pay, and to pay more. In addition, Wisconsin has found that, overall, this policy does not increase government costs. That makes sense because ``passing through'' support payments to families means they have more of their own resources, and are less apt to depend on public help to meet other needs such as food, transportation or child care.

We now have a key opportunity to encourage all States to follow Wisconsin's example. This legislation gives States options and strong incentives to send more child support directly to families who are working their way off--or are already off--public assistance. Not only will this create the right incentives for non-custodial parents to pay, but it will also simplify the job for States, who currently face an administrative nightmare in following the complicated rules of the current system.

This legislation finally brings the Child Support Enforcement program into the post-welfare reform era, shifting its focus from recovering welfare costs to increasing child support to families so they can sustain work and maintain self-sufficiency. After all, it's only fair that if we are asking parents to move off welfare, stay off welfare, and take financial responsibility for their families, then we in Congress must make sure that child support payments actually go to the families to whom they are owed and who are working so hard to succeed.

It is time for Congress to make this change. It's time that we finally make child support meaningful for families, and make sure that children get the support they need and deserve.

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