I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3465 
To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to ensure funding for grants 
to promote responsible fatherhood and strengthen low-income families, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 27, 2017 
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself and Mr. CARSON of Indiana) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 
and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, 
and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to ensure 
funding for grants to promote responsible fatherhood 
and strengthen low-income families, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Julia Carson Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Fami-
lies Act of 2017’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:57 Aug 09, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3465.IH
H3465
mstockstill on DSK30JT082PROD with BILLS
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
TITLE I—PROMOTING RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD AND 
STRENGTHENING LOW-INCOME FAMILIES 
Sec. 101. Healthy marriage promotion and responsible fatherhood programs. 
Sec. 102. Grants supporting healthy family partnerships for domestic violence 
intervention and preventions. 
Sec. 103. Procedures to address domestic violence. 
Sec. 104. Grants to States for family strengthening commissions. 
TITLE II—TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES 
Sec. 201. TANF work participation improvements. 
Sec. 202. TANF Employment Fund. 
Sec. 203. Sense of Congress. 
TITLE III—CHILD SUPPORT 
Sec. 301. Full family distribution and ban on recovery of Medicaid costs for 
births. 
Sec. 302. State assessments of barriers to employment and financial support of 
children. 
Sec. 303. Public reporting on consequences for nonpayment. 
Sec. 304. Early intervention to ensure regular payment of support and prevent 
overdue support. 
Sec. 305. Improved collection and distribution of child support. 
Sec. 306. Services and activities to support noncustodial parenting time. 
TITLE IV—REVENUE PROVISION 
Sec. 401. Increase in credit percentage under earned income tax credit for eligi-
ble individuals with no qualifying children. 
TITLE V—SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE 
Sec. 501. Collection of child support under the supplemental nutrition assist-
ance program. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Fathers play a significant and underappre-
ciated role in the development of their children, with 
research demonstrating that a supportive and in-
volved father strengthens a child’s emotional, phys-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:57 Aug 09, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3465.IH
H3465
mstockstill on DSK30JT082PROD with BILLS
ical, intellectual, and behavioral development. Chil-
dren with positive relationships with fathers, even if 
they do not live in the same household, have strong-
er mental health, economic success, and academic 
achievement with lower rates of youth delinquency, 
school dropout, and teen pregnancy. 
(2) Economic stability also leads to positive out-
comes for children, including stronger emotional 
well-being, physical health, and academic success. 
(3) Family patterns in the United States have 
resulted in fewer children living with their fathers. 
The October 2016 Child Trends report on family 
structure shows the proportion of all children who 
have not attained the age of 18 living with both par-
ents has decreased over the past half century, from 
85 percent in 1960 to 65 percent in 2015, with 23 
percent of such children living with their mother 
only and 4 percent of such children living with their 
father only in 2015. 
(4) A 2015 United States Census analysis of 
children’s living arrangements and characteristics 
showed that a child in a father-absent home is more 
than 5 times more likely to live in poverty than a 
child in a married-couple family. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:57 Aug 09, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3465.IH
H3465
mstockstill on DSK30JT082PROD with BILLS
(5) Father engagement does not depend on liv-
ing in the same house as the child, with many non-
residential fathers being actively involved with their 
children and supportive of their children’s mothers. 
However, low-income fathers experience multiple 
challenges to contributing financially and emotion-
ally to their children due to limited education and 
job skills, unstable employment opportunities, child 
support enforcement policies, incarceration, and 
strained relationships with the children’s mothers. 
Multiple approaches are needed to address these 
barriers to create opportunities for fathers to sustain 
their engagement and closeness with their children 
and families. 
(6) Federal programs should encourage respon-
sible fatherhood and healthy families by increasing 
the upward economic mobility of custodial and non-
custodial parents so that they can actively partici-
pate in financial support and child-rearing as well as 
maintain positive, healthy, and nonviolent relation-
ships with their children and coparents, including 
improving compliance with child support obligations 
and cooperative parenting. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:57 Aug 09, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3465.IH
H3465
mstockstill on DSK30JT082PROD with BILLS