Kent Conrad: “on the question of foster care, the bill includes $343 million in net cuts in foster care funding, including two cuts…”

“on the question of foster care, the bill includes $343 million in net cuts in foster care funding, including two cuts that will make it harder for some States to provide federally funded foster care benefits to certain grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. That is not the right priority for the country. On the question of child support enforcement, the Congressional Budget Office estimates show the conference report includes $1.5 billion cut in Federal funding for child support enforcement efforts over the next 5 years. This is funding that States use to track down absent parents, establish legally enforceable child support orders and collect and distribute child support owed to families. CBO has estimated that this loss in Federal child support funding will result in $2.9 billion in child support going uncollected over the next 5 years. These cuts are smaller than in the House bill. It will nevertheless take billions of dollars out of the pockets of mothers and children who are owed child support. This report goes on to say the conference agreement also contains some modest improvements in child support but the cuts in Federal support for the program and the associated loss of child support collections far outweigh the very modest benefits that some families would see as a result of a few improvements. I ask unanimous consent that this report from the Center on Budget and Policy priorities be printed in the Record after my statement.…”