December 22, 2020 by Donald Hubin, Ph.D., Chair, National Board of Directors
When the first stimulus bill passed last March, Congress had protected these funds from being seized by the government for repayment of debts with one notable, and mean-spirited, exception: past due child support. This was likely done under the mistaken impression that seizure of these funds would benefit children. In fact, though, most of the seized funds went into state and federal coffers to “repay” them for welfare benefits.
This was a terrible decision. Instead of these funds going to parents who pay child support, most of whom have at least partial physical custody of their children and many of whom were horribly hurt by the economic disruption of Covid-19 pandemic, they went to the government. This not only didn’t benefit parents and children, it blunted the stimulus purpose of the act.
NPO called “foul”! (See Robert Franklin’s article on this here.) And we weren’t the only ones to do so. The National Child Support Enforcement Association (NCSEA)—the organization of state child support enforcement agencies—did as well. And NPO sent out a “call to action” to our members to contact their federal legislators to urge them to correct this problem.
This problem with the CARES Act, the first stimulus bill, was never corrected. But there is good news to report. The economic relief package just passed yesterday (12/21) ensures that relief checks will not be intercepted to repay state and federal governments for past-due child support obligations. It specifically states that these funds “shall not be … subject to reduction or offset pursuant to” the relevant section of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which provides for seizure of funds for past-due child support.
We can’t know, of course, the effect our voices had on correcting Congress’s mistake. As I said, there were other voices making the same point. But there is no doubt that the voices of constituents matter. If a legislator receives even a small number of complaints about some action, they know that they’re seeing only the tip of an iceberg. They know that many others share the same view.
So, keep raising your voice when legislators make mistakes—and congratulate them when they do the right thing. It makes a difference!