Jay Rockefeller: “I am proud to join my distinguished colleague from Connecticut in introducing a demonstration project which will help us…”

“I am proud to join my distinguished colleague from Connecticut in introducing a demonstration project which will help us chart a bold course in promoting parental responsibility and stable support for children. It truly is an honor to join with such a dedicated, effective advocate for children in promoting a new concept of security for children. Today, we are joining forces to promote a demonstration project, the Child Support Assurance Act of 1994. It is a combination of our previous individual initiatives, but we are united in our commitment to aggressively push this concept as part of comprehensive welfare reform. Child support assurance, we believe, will be the effective carrot to get the Federal Government, States, and individuals working to collect the billions of dollars that parents owe their children in child support. This demonstration is just one piece of the puzzle--but, I believe, is a key piece to link others together. We understand and agree that child support assurance will not be effective unless we dramatically improve child support enforcement efforts. But our child support assurance demonstration will provide tremendous incentives for States and parents to work with the Federal Government to establish paternity, get child support awards in place, and collect the money from all parents who have an obligation to support their children.”