WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Herb Kohl, D-Wis., on Tuesday introduced a bill that would stop states from taking part of child-support payments.
Currently, states keep part of child support payments to offset the cost of providing services to needy families, Snowe and Kohl said. The bill would stop that practice so all child support collected on a family's behalf goes to the family. It would also step up child-support collection enforcement measures.
Snowe and Kohl said their legislation would give mothers leaving welfare an additional $4 billion in child support collections over the first five years of implementation.
"It simply does not make sense to tell a family that is on welfare or trying to get off of welfare that the State is entitled to the first cut of a child support payment," said Snowe and Kohl.
