Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions S. 1437

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

S. 1437. A bill to expand the Federal tax refund intercept program to cover children who are not minors; to the Committee on Finance.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I am pleased to be introducing the Child Support Fairness and Tax Refund Interception Act of 2003 today.

The Child Support Fairness and Tax Refund Interception Act of 2003 closes a loophole in current Federal statute by expanding the eligibility of one of the most effective means of enforcing child support orders—that of intercepting the Federal tax refunds of parents who are delinquent in paying their court-ordered financial support for their children.

Under current law, eligibility for the Federal tax refund offset program is limited to cases involving minors, parents on
public assistance, or adult children who are disabled. Custodial parents of adult, non-disabled children are not assisted under the IRS tax refund intercept program, and in many cases, they must work multiple jobs in order to make ends meet. Some of these parents have gone into debt to put their college-age children through school.

The legislation I am introducing today will address this inequity by expanding the eligibility of the Federal tax refund offset program to cover parents of all children, regardless of whether the child is disabled or a minor. This legislation will not create a cause of action for a custodial parent to seek additional child support. It will merely assist the custodial parent in recovering debt that is owed for a level of child support that was determined by a court.

Improving our child support enforcement programs is an issue that should be of concern to us all as it remains a serious problem in the United States. According to the most recent government statistics, there are approximately seventeen million active cases in which a child support order requires a noncustodial parent to contribute to the support of his or her child.
Of the almost $25 billion owed in 2001, only $14 billion has been collected. In 1998, only 23 percent of children entitled to child support through our public system received some form of payment, despite Federal and State efforts. Similar shortfalls in previous years bring the combined delinquency total to approximately $88 billion. We can fix this injustice in our federal tax refund offset program by helping some of our most needy constituents receive the financial assistance they are owed.

While previous Administrations have been somewhat successful in using tax refunds as a tool to collect child support payments, more needs to be done. The IRS tax refund interception program has only collected one-third of tardy child support payments. The Child Support Fairness and Tax Refund Interception Act of 2003 will remove the current barrier to fulfilling an individual's obligation to pay child support, while helping to provide for the future of our nation's children.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation, and ask unanimous consent that the text of legislation be printed in the RECORD.