The Poor Would Pay This Penalty

The politicians in Washington have a darned odd if not heartless way of helping people in dire need. The president and the Congress supposedly have a goal of assisting custodial parents in collecting child support payments. Now, penalties loom for California and the 15 other states and territories that have been unable to construct statewide child support computer tracking systems, as required by federal law.

Here’s the travesty. The states that failed now face the loss of temporary aid to needy families. In California, that amounts to $3.7 billion in block grants. What lunacy. This policy would cause endless pain to poor mothers and their children.

Moreover, Los Angeles County, which was allowed to create its own computer tracking system and has successfully done so, figures to be penalized along with the rest of California, according to a staffer of the House human resources subcommittee. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for today.

“They’ve had years to do this,” the staffer insisted. Yes, but the federal government was three years late in promulgating guidelines on how computer tracking systems ought to work. What penalties did the government face for that?

Now. Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R-Fla.), who chairs the human resources subcommittee, has the opportunity and the apparent inclination to come up with reduced sanctions. That’s the right thing to do. Los Angeles County should be praised, not penalized, for its efforts. Congress has a lot to learn about humanity if that does not happen.