ADVISORY
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES

Herger Announces Hearing on 
Child Support and Fatherhood Proposals

Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA), Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on oversight of the child support program. The hearing will take place on Thursday, June 28, 2001, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 2:00 p.m.

In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include Members of Congress, program experts, advocates, and researchers. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.

BACKGROUND:

The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program, created in 1975 and authorized under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, is a State-Federal partnership developed to collect child support payments from parents who do not live with their children. It serves families that are recipients of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and non-recipient families.

The 1996 welfare reform made significant changes to the child support system. It included provisions requiring States to: (1) establish an integrated, automated child support system; (2) increase the percentage of non-custodial parents (mostly fathers) identified; (3) implement more techniques to obtain support collections from non-custodial parents; (4) intercept or seize periodic or lump sum payments; (5) withhold, suspend, or restrict drivers, professional, and hunting and fishing licenses; (6) advise the Secretary of State about debtor parents so passports could be revoked or restricted; and (7) conduct data matches with financial institutions and seize resources of debtor parents.

In 2000, the program collected $18 billion in child support payments for single parents and their children - up from $8.9 billion in 1993, a 100 percent increase. In 1999, paternity was established in over 1.5 million cases (up from 676,000 in 1994), and nearly 1.2 million new child support orders were established.

Proposals to enhance the operation and efficiency of the public child support enforcement program are often considered along with efforts to improve the employability and earnings of non-custodial parents, most often fathers. For example, in the current Congress, Human Resources Subcommittee Members Reps. Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) have introduced H.R. 1471, the "Child Support Distribution Act of 2001." This legislation is one of a number of proposals, including the President as part of his fiscal year 2002 budget proposal, seeking to enhance the role of noncustodial fathers in today's families.

For single-parent families, the financial and emotional contributions of the noncustodial parent can make a tremendous difference in the lives of children. Unfortunately, unmarried poor fathers tend to have elevated rates of unemployment and incarceration compared to other fathers. Legislative initiatives the Subcommittee will hear about are designed to prevent the cycle of children being reared in fatherless families by supporting projects that help fathers meet their responsibilities as husbands, parents, and providers. The proposals promote marriage among parents, help poor and low-income fathers establish positive relationships with their children and the children's mothers, promote responsible parenting, and increase family income by strengthening the father's earning power.

In announcing the hearing, Chairman Herger stated: "This hearing will bring us up to date on the performance of the child support enforcement program. We are particularly interested in how the reforms made in the 1996 welfare law have affected the child support system and in proposals to better serve parents, children, and noncustodial parents. We also will learn more about current proposals to enhance the role of fathers in their children's lives."

FOCUS OF THE HEARING:

This hearing will focus on child support and fatherhood proposals.

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 or MS Word format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Thursday, July 12, 2001, to Allison Giles, 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 or MS Word 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.

Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at "http://waysandmeans.house.gov".

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.