
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 24, 1995                   TAG: 9507240111
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOP PLAN WOULD MAKE FAMILIES PAY TO ENFORCE CHILD SUPPORT

The Republican drive to overhaul welfare promises a crackdown on deadbeat fathers and mothers, but GOP plans to balance the budget call for making millions of single-parent families pay for part of the federal cost of enforcing child support.

As the Republicans try to make unprecedented cuts in the country's social programs, some lawmakers are arguing that a 15 percent fee on child support collections will hurt low-income families struggling to stay afloat and off welfare.

``This is just going to take desperately needed dollars from families that are really struggling to fund the administration of a system that, frankly, government ought to provide,'' said Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn.

``Child support payments are court-ordered ... and in no other type of law enforcement situation do we require the victim pay the government to enforce the law,'' said Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn.

But other Republicans say that in this era of budget-cutting, it is fair to ask consumers to pay for the services government provides.

An aide to the House Budget Committee, which drafted the plan, also says the proposed fee is not nearly as steep as what private collection agencies charge - from 25 percent to 33 percent of the child support owed - to find deadbeat parents and make them pay up.

The General Accounting Office is on the committee's side, arguing that families not on welfare who need help collecting child support are not necessarily poor, and that the costs of serving them have risen significantly over the last decade.

States charged these families, which number about 8.2 million, an average of about $4 each last year for child support services. At the same time, the costs of helping them were $136 per family, or $1.1 billion total, according to figures from the congressional watchdog agency.

Under the GOP's balanced budget plan approved by Congress last month, $1 billion in yearly spending on child support enforcement - about half to two-thirds of federal spending on the program - would be replaced with a 15 percent fee on collections for non-welfare families.

Under current law, the federal government pays two-thirds and states pay one-third of the costs of tracking down deadbeat parents, establishing paternity, and setting child support orders. In 1994, the federal government spend almost $1.76 billion and states kicked in $814 million.

The system serves families on welfare, who are required to participate as a condition of receiving public assistance, and anyone else seeking help. In 1993, the system collected nearly $9 billion.

States are already allowed to charge a fee or recover a portion of their costs in collecting child support, but many demand only a small amount.

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB