Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Van Duyne (TX-24) announced the Ensuring Children Receive Support Act (H.R. 6903) has been passed by the Ways and Means Committee by a bipartisan vote of 40-2. Working with Chairman Smith (MO-08) and Representative Panetta (CA-19), they successfully moved the bill through committee to now be offered for consideration by the full House.

“Ensuring children are taken care of should be non-negotiable. When child support obligations go unmet, children are the ones who suffer,” said Rep. Van Duyne. “This bill strengthens enforcement efforts and ensures we are standing firmly on the side of America’s children. I’m grateful to Chairman Smith, Representative Panetta, and members of the committee for helping to advance this bipartisan, commonsense legislation so it can be considered by the full House.”

“I commend Representative Van Duyne for her strong, long-standing leadership on this legislation to put children first,” said Ways and Means Chairman Smith. “The Ensuring Children Receive Support Act strengthens an enforcement tool to help collect past-due child support and ensure parents meet their obligations to their children. Thanks to Representative Van Duyne’s efforts, we are prioritizing the needs of children across America to make sure they get the support and resources they are owed.”

“Child support payments are not just mandated by law, they provide important resources and support so that children can succeed,” said Rep. Panetta. “The Ensuring Children Receive Support Act would help delinquent parents make those payments by preventing them from leaving the country. By empowering the State Department to revoke passports of parents who are delinquent in their child support payments, we can continue to support those children with practical solutions to ensuring child support gets paid.”

Background: 

• This bipartisan legislation will strengthen enforcement of the Passport Denial Program. 

• Under current law, if the Department of Health and Human Services certifies that an individual owes more than $2,500 in child support, the Department of State must refuse to issue the individual a passport and may revoke a previously issued passport. Since passports must be updated every 10 years, this initiative has minimal effect. My bill would require the State Department to revoke the previously issued passport. 

###