Fatherhood
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LANKFORD. I thank the gen tle lady for hosting this time.
There's a lot of things I've talked about in the well of this House. I've talked about budget. I've talked about a growing economy, about jobs. I've talked about transportation. I've talked about the relationship of the individual citizen and their government and how that relationship works--or sometimes it doesn't work lately.
But this is a time just to be able to pause for a moment and not talk about necessarily some new government law or some new regulation, but to celebrate, for just a moment, dads, with Father's Day this past weekend, and to be able to hesitate again and to be able to say thanks to my own dad, but to also talk about the fact that it is the love of our life for men to be able to enjoy their children, just like it is for ladies to be able to enjoy their children, as well, as a mom.
There is something very unique--and I believe firmly that every child needs a mom and needs a dad. They come at parenting from two different directions and they, together, make such a dramatic difference in the life of a child, to have a mom and to have a dad.
It's interesting to me that the last verse in the Old Testament, in that verse from Malachi 4:6 in that minor prophet book, it ends that Old Testament by saying the role of the prophet will be to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers and to turn the hearts of their fathers to the children, to be able to see that restoration.
In that time period, there was a collapse for a moment in the families, and they suffered as a nation and saw that. We see that today in our own families. Fifteen million children live life without a father--15 million. In 1960, there were only 11 percent of the homes that didn't have a father. Today, it's over one-third of the homes that don't have a father. As we watch all the consequences that occur with that in our own economy, in our own family, and in our own culture, it's just the separation that happens.
We see a greater emphasis right now with trying to figure out what to do in schools as parents seem to be disconnected from their children and teachers struggle in the community, and things have changed in our schools with an absence of fathers.
As we've seen the families collapse, we've seen an increase in poverty. Some colleagues were here earlier speaking about hunger in America, which is rampant and is a huge issue for us as a nation. They mentioned that in the 1970s we had a very low hunger rate in America. It's interesting for us to come here now and talk about fathers and how that has changed, and from that point in 1970 when we had a very low hunger rate in America, we look at the difference now with a very high hunger rate in America and also a very low presence of fathers in the lives of their children. We've seen something different happen in families as fathers disconnect from their children and they no longer see a role to be able to be a provider and they've required government to go be the provider for children when it was never designed to be that way. And that's not where it is best.
Children have a higher risk of poverty. Children have a lower graduation rate from high school and have a lower entry rate into college. There is not a safe environment for children when there's an absence of a dad and a mom. It's different for them as they grow up and as they process through things without the stability that can come to a child with the presence of a mom and of a dad.
So what do we do about it is the challenge. Well, quite frankly, there are issues in our marriage laws right now as a nation that we have where there are penalties to be married in our tax law. There are penalties even in our disability benefits as we try and reach in and help families as they're disabled, but yet if they're married, it's a lower rate. So we look at that, and we ask the question: Why would we punish a family for being married because one of the individuals there is disabled? That doesn't make sense for us.
So we need to look at our policies that we have and be able to encourage rather than discourage marriage. Because we know when that happens--it's the reason that the Federal Government is involved at all in the marriage relationship is because we know what happens in the lives of children when a man and a woman are committed to each other for life. That commitment, the reason the government is connected to that is because of what happens in the lives of children and how it benefits people in the days ahead. So we need to look at the marriage penalty that's occurring in our tax law and our disability rules and such.
But, quite frankly, most of the issues that deal with fatherhood and from the absence of fathers won't happen because of a change in Federal law. It will happen when families turn and mentor young couples and they get personally involved in the lives of young families. Some individuals have never seen a functioning man and a woman married and committed to each other for life. They've never seen that in their community, and they haven't experienced that in their own family. It's so important for older couples to mentor young couples and to pass on the wisdom that they have gained.
It is, quite frankly, very important at the marriage altar for two individuals to truly commit to each other for life. That brings stability not only to those two individuals, but it also brings stability to the children where they grow up in a home where there's some emotional security and safety and not the constant fear of separation and of loss of either the mom or the dad. So for individuals to be committed to each other for life makes a big difference in that.
So what can happen? I talked about the Federal policies, but it's really individuals, individuals mentoring other individuals, and it's two individuals when they approach the marriage altar knowing that we're going to commit to each other and we're going to work through the problems that we have because that's what's best for our Nation, and that's what's best for the children that are coming up to provide them that stable home where they can grow up.
Do we always get it perfect? No. But we know economically and we know emotionally that the strongest homes and what's best for our children is for a mom and a dad. And I want to honor dads that do commit to walk through the hard, difficult days and to say to them, Keep going. Don't give up, dads. And as you face through hard times, your children need you.
The single most difficult part of my job is getting on an airplane on Monday mornings and flying away from my two daughters and my wife. No other moment of my week is harder than that one, because I know the importance of being a dad to my daughters, and they need me.
I encourage dads today to live out the commitment that you have made to your wife and the commitment that you've made to your children.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source