FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: (202) 225-1025
September 29, 1999
No. HR-11
Congresswoman Nancy L. Johnson (R-CT), Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on fatherhood legislation, specifically the Fathers Count Act of 1999. A draft copy of the legislation is now available in the Subcommittee Office in room B-317 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, October 5, 1999, in room B-318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 12:00 noon.
Oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include representatives from the Administration, individuals who administer programs for low-income fathers, child support administrators, and advocacy groups. Any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance is encouraged to submit written comments on the proposed legislation for consideration by the Subcommittee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
Numerous studies suggest that unmarried poor fathers tend to have elevated rates of unemployment and incarceration compared to other fathers. These problems make it difficult for them to marry and form two-parent families and to play a positive role in the rearing of their children. As the consequence of the failure of the father to play a prominent family role, children, especially boys, repeat the cycle of school failure, delinquency and crime, unemployment, and nonmarital births.
The Fathers Count Act of 1999 is designed to prevent the unfortunate cycle of children being reared in fatherless families by supporting projects that help fathers meet their responsibilities as husbands, parents, and providers. The bill is aimed at promoting marriage among parents, helping poor and low-income fathers establish positive relationships with their children and the children's mothers, promoting responsible parenting, and increasing family income by strengthening the father's earning power. The legislation aims to accomplish these goals by awarding grants to governmental and nongovernmental organizations that apply to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services; grants will be awarded on a competitive basis. Some contend that government agencies can best conduct fatherhood programs. However, because the authors believe that helping poor and low-income fathers is best achieved by organizations that are indigenous to their own neighborhoods, the legislation reserves 75 percent of its grant funds for nongovernmental, especially community-based organizations.
Projects must coordinate their activities with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, the Workforce Investment Act (P.L. 105-220), and the local child support enforcement agency. Some argue that the requirement that projects be coordinated with the child support enforcement agency, the TANF agency, and the agency conducting Workforce Investment Act programs will reduce the number of grant proposals because of the difficulty of receiving cooperation from so many agencies. On the other hand, given the vital role of child support and employment preparation in programs for poor and low-income fathers, coordination with these agencies seems necessary.
Preference is given to projects that have an assurance from the child support enforcement agency that all payments on arrearages owed to the State will be given to mothers if the mother has left welfare. Because recent research shows that around half the mothers and fathers or children born outside marriage are cohabiting, and over 80 percent say they are in an exclusive relationship that one or both partners hopes will lead to marriage, the legislation requires half its grant funds to be spent on projects that emphasize the enrollment of fathers at the time of the child's birth.
Chairman Johnson and Rep. Ben Cardin (D-MD) are expected to formally introduce the Fathers Count Act shortly.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Johnson stated: "The 1996 welfare reform law has been very successful in helping poor mothers get jobs and improve their economic circumstances. The next logical step in reforming welfare is to help poor fathers improve their economic circumstances and participate directly in the rearing of their children. To accomplish this goal, we must support programs that focus on improving relationships between poor young men and women to increase the prospects that they can marry and form two-parent families or at a minimum, work together to rear their children. Promoting marriage and two-parent families, and aggressively helping these men become responsible parents, is the next step in welfare reform."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The purpose of the hearing is to receive comments on the Fathers Count Act. Although the Subcommittee is interested in comments on any issue raised by the legislation, it is especially interested in comments on the following issues: whether fatherhood services should be provided primarily by nongovernmental or governmental entities; what the level of coordination should be with child support enforcement agencies, the TANF agency, and the agency conducting Workforce Investment Act programs; whether child support arrearages should be given to mothers if the mother has left welfare, whether this would require amendments in State law, and whether the assurance would be too difficult for projects to obtain; whether the approach of earmarking funds for projects that emphasize the enrollment of fathers at the time of the child's birth is a good one, and whether the requirement that half of grant funds be expended on these projects is too high or too low. The Subcommittee will also receive testimony during this hearing on expanding access to government child support enforcement procedures.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Tuesday, October 5, 1999, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Human Resources office, room B-317 Rayburn House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette WordPerfect 5.1 format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
The
Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event
(four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to
special accommodation needs in general (including availability of
Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the
Committee as noted above.