Coleman Seeks to Restore Funding for Federal Child Support Program

U.S. Senator, Jul 05, 2007

Legislation would restore funding for the federal incentive match program 
 
March 9th, 2007 - Washington, D.C.- Concerned about the collection of child support payments relied on by Minnesota families, Senator Norm Coleman today announced his cosponsorship of legislation that will protect the federal incentive match for the child support program. The Deficit Reduction Act, which was signed into law last year, contained a provision that on October 1, 2007 will end a federal matching program to help states collect outstanding child support dollars. The new legislation, also cosponsored by Senators Rockefeller (D-WV), Cornyn (R-TX), Kohl (D-WI) and Snowe (R-ME), will prevent that program from expiring in October.

“Children deserve the support of both parents to ensure they receive the most basic of necessities, and child support programs give them this opportunity,” said Coleman. “The federal incentive matching program helps states enforce child support orders so that these families can gain a strong financial foothold. Without this program, billions of dollars in needed child support could go uncollected, leaving many families unable to provide for their children.”

The child support incentive funds and the related matching funds are based on state performance in establishing and enforcing child support orders. The funds are allocated for the specific purpose of collecting more child support money owed to families. The program collected $23 billion in private child support payments for close to 16 million children in 2005. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the provision in the Deficit Reduction Act will cut federal child support funding and as a result reduce the amount of child support collected for families by $8.4 billion over the next decade.

As one of the nation’s top performing child support programs, Minnesota would be particularly hard hit by a reduction in this performance funding. For example, Ramsey County could lose $2.5 million in 2008, due to the loss of an estimated 33 positions and reduced collections. Likewise, Hennepin County could lose $4.3 million annually and Dakota County could lose $800,000.