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ADVISORY
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, CONTACT: (202) 225-1025
March 8, 2000
No. HR-18
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Johnson Announces Hearing on H.R. 1488,
the "Hyde-Woolsey" Child Support Bill
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
H.R.1488, often referred to as the "Hyde-Woolsey" child support bill. The
hearing will take place on Thursday, March 16, 2000, in room B-318 Rayburn House Office
Building, beginning at 11:00 a.m.
Oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include
Members of Congress, State child support administrators, representatives of advocacy
groups, business leaders, and operators of private child support companies. 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 program, authorized under Title IV-D of the Social Security
Act, has been criticized for not collecting enough child support payments from sufficient
numbers of noncustodial parents. Created in 1975, the Federal-State program has now grown
to about 55,000 employees nationwide and an annual budget of around $3.6 billion. In 1998,
the most recent year for which data are available, the program collected nearly $14.4
billion in child support payments for single mothers and their children, located 6.5
million noncustodial parents, established 848,000 paternities, and established 1.1 million
child support orders. Collections by the child support program have increased more than 60
percent since 1993.
Even so, critics believe the program should be more efficient and should collect more
money for more single parents. Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL) and Rep.
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) have introduced legislation (H.R.1488) that would turn responsibility
for the program over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). More specifically, in addition
to essentially ending the current child support program, the bill would require all
employers to withhold child support payments and send them to the IRS. The IRS would then
distribute the withheld amount to custodial parents owed child support. The bill would
also treat child support obligations as taxes for purposes of penalties and interest
related to failure to have them withheld by employers.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Johnson stated: "Congress has worked on a
bipartisan basis for 25 years to create and improve a national child support program. Due
in large part to reforms made in the 1996 welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193), the child
support program is good and getting better every year. What is needed now is Federal
oversight to ensure aggressive implementation by States of the current Federal
requirements - not an entirely new and untested approach."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The hearing will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of the Hyde-Woolsey
legislation. Some of the specific issues to be addressed include the appropriateness of
IRS becoming more deeply involved in a social program, how IRS would locate fathers and
establish paternity and child support orders, and whether and how IRS would expand its
customer service operations to provide specialized assistance to parents owing child
support and parents due child support. The hearing will also examine the achievements and
recent performance record of the current Child Support Enforcement program.
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,
March 30, 2000, 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 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.
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.
