SULLIVAN, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES v. STROOP ET AL.
No. 89-535
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 26, 1990-Decided June 14, 1990
496 U.S. 478
Clifford M. Sloan argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Starr, Assistant Attorney General Gerson, Deputy Solicitor General Merrill, and Robert D. Kamenshine. Mary Sue Terry, Attorney General of Virginia, R. Claire Guthrie, Deputy Attorney General, John A. Rupp, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Thomas J. Czelusta, Assistant Attorney General, filed a brief for Larry D. Jackson as respondent under this Court‘s Rule 12.4, in support of petitioner.
Jamie B. Aliperti argued the cause for respondents. With her on the brief for respondents Elizabeth Stroop et al. was Claire E. Curry.
CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST delivered the opinion of the Court.
In this case we review a determination by petitioner, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, that “child‘s insurance benefits” paid pursuant to Title II of the Social Security Act, see
Title IV requires the applicable agencies of States participating in the AFDC program to consider “other income and resources of any child or relative claiming” AFDC benefits “in determining need” for benefits.
“. . . [W]ith respect to any month, in making the determination under [
§ 602(a)(7) ], the State agency -“shall disregard the first $50 of any child support payments received in such month with respect to the dependent child or children in any family applying for or receiving aid to families with dependent children (including support payments collected and paid to the family under section 657(b) of this title). . . .”
42 U. S. C. § 602(a)(8)(A)(vi) (1982 ed., Supp. V) (emphasis added).
The Secretary has declined to “disregard” under this provision the first $50 of Title II Social Security child‘s insurance benefits paid on behalf of children who are members of families applying for AFDC benefits. In the Secretary‘s view, the Government-funded child‘s insurance benefits are not “child support” for purposes of
Respondents are custodial parents receiving AFDC benefits who are aggrieved by the implementation of the DEFRA amendments. They sued in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia challenging petitioner‘s interpretation of the disregard on statutory and constitu-
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the District Court. Stroop v. Bowen, 870 F. 2d 969, 975 (1989). According to the Court of Appeals, Congress nowhere explicated its use of the term “child support” in
We think the Secretary‘s construction is amply supported by the text of the statute which shows that Congress used
“If the statute is clear and unambiguous ‘that is the end of the matter, for the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress.’ . . . In ascertaining the plain meaning of the statute, the court must look to the particular statutory language at issue, as well as the language and design of the statute as a whole.‘” K mart Corp. v. Cartier, Inc., 486 U. S. 281, 291-292 (1988) (internal citations omitted).
As an initial matter, the common usage of “child support” refers to legally compulsory payments made by parents. Black‘s Law Dictionary 217 (5th ed. 1979) defines “child support” as
“[t]he legal obligation of parents to contribute to the economic maintenance, including education, of their children; enforceable in both civil and criminal contexts. In a dissolution or custody action, money paid by one parent to another toward the expenses of children of the marriage.”
Attorneys who have practiced in the area of domestic relations law will immediately recognize this definition. Respondents insist, however, that we have traditionally “turned to authorities of general reference, not to legal dictionaries, to [give] ‘ordinary meaning to ordinary words.‘” Brief for Respondents 20 (citing Sullivan v. Everhart, 494 U. S. 83, 91-92 (1990)). But the general reference work upon which respondents principally rely defines “child support” as “money paid for the care of one‘s minor child, esp[ecially] payments to a divorced spouse or a guardian under a decree of divorce.” Random House Dictionary of the English Language 358 (2d ed. 1987) (emphasis added) (cited at Brief for Respondents 20). Respondents also seek to bolster their view
Congress’ use of “child support” throughout Title IV shows no intent to depart from common usage. As previously noted, the provisions governing eligibility for AFDC benefits, including the “disregard” provision in issue here, are contained in Title IV of the Social Security Act.
“[f]or the purpose of enforcing the support obligations owed by absent parents to their children and the spouse (or former spouse) with whom such children are living, [and] locating absent parents. . . .”
42 U. S. C. § 651 (1982 ed., Supp. V) (emphasis added).
The remainder of Part D,
The statute also makes plain that Congress meant for the Part D Child Support program to work in tandem with the AFDC program which constitutes Part A of Title IV,
“provide that, as a condition of eligibility for [AFDC benefits], each applicant or recipient will be required -
“(A) to assign the State any rights to support from any other person such applicant may have (i) in his own behalf or in behalf of any other family member for whom the applicant is applying for or receiving aid, . . . [and]
“(B) to cooperate with the State . . . (ii) in obtaining support payments for such applicant and for a child with respect to whom such aid is claimed . . . .”
Part D, in turn, requires state plans implementing Title IV Child Support programs to
“provide that (A) in any case in which support payments are collected for an individual with respect to whom an assignment under section 602(a)(26) [in Part A] of this title is effective, such payments shall be made to the State for distribution pursuant to section 657 [in Part D] of this title. . . .”
§ 654(5) .
These cross-references illustrate Congress’ intent that the AFDC and Child Support programs operate together closely to provide uniform levels of support for children of equal need. That intent leads to the further conclusion that Congress used the term “child support” in
The Court of Appeals construed the statute the way it did in part because it felt the construction we adopt would raise a serious doubt as to its constitutionality. App. to Pet. for Cert. 12a. We do not share that doubt. We agree with the Secretary that Congress’ desire to encourage the making of child support payments by absent parents, see, e. g.,
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is therefore
Reversed.
JUSTICE BLACKMUN, with whom JUSTICE BRENNAN and JUSTICE MARSHALL join, dissenting.
Today the Court holds that the plain language of a statute applicable by its terms to “any child support payments” com-
I
I begin, as does the majority, with the plain language of the disregard provision. It refers to “any child support payments received . . . with respect to the dependent child or children in any family applying for or receiving aid to families with dependent children (including support payments collected and paid to the family under section 657(b) of this title).”1
The majority‘s insistence that the ordinary meaning of the term “child support” excludes Title II payments makes little sense. Title II is a program of mandatory wage deductions, designed to ensure that a worker‘s dependents will have some income, should the worker retire, die, or become disabled. Califano v. Boles, 443 U. S. 282, 283 (1979) (Title II “attempts to obviate, through a program of forced savings, the economic dislocations that may otherwise accompany old age, disability, or the death of a breadwinner“). Thus, the worker is legally compelled to set aside a portion of his wages in order to earn benefits used to support his dependent children in the event he becomes unable to do so himself. A child is entitled to Title II payments only if he or she lived with, or received financial support from, the insured worker - that is, only if the relationship between the child and the insured worker would (or did) give rise to a legally enforceable support obligation.
Nonetheless, the majority insists that Title II payments do not constitute “child support.” The majority points to the use of the term “child support” in Part D of Title IV to refer to court-ordered support payments by absent parents. This begs the question. Naturally, Congress was referring to compulsory support payments in Part D, because that part of the statute is concerned with “enforcing the support obligations owed by absent parents to their children.”
The majority relies on the maxim of statutory construction that identical words in two related statutes, or in different parts of the same statute, are intended to have the same meaning. Ante, at 484. Like all such maxims, however, this is merely a general assumption, and is not always valid or applicable. In Erlenbaugh v. United States, 409 U. S. 239 (1972), for example, the Court declined to follow this maxim, because it was invoked not simply to resolve any ambiguities or doubts in the statutory language, but, as in this case, “to introduce an exception to the coverage of the [statute] where none is now apparent.” Id., at 245. The Court commented: “This might be a sensible construction of the two statutes if they were intended to serve the same function, but plainly they were not.” Ibid. It went on to explain that the two statutes had different purposes, and the reason for the limited scope of one was absent in the context of the other. Id., at 245-247. See also District of Columbia v. Carter, 409 U. S. 418, 421 (1973) (“At first glance, it might seem logical simply to assume . . . that identical words used in two related statutes were intended to have the same effect. Nevertheless . . . the meaning well may vary to meet the purposes of the law“) (internal quotation marks omitted); Helvering v. Stockholms Enskilda Bank, 293 U. S. 84, 87 (1934) (“[S]ince most words admit of different shades of meaning, susceptible of being expanded or abridged to con-
“But the presumption is not rigid and readily yields whenever there is such variation in the connection in which the words are used as reasonably to warrant the conclusion that they were employed in different parts of the act with different intent . . . [T]he meaning well may vary to meet the purposes of the law, to be arrived at by a consideration of the language in which those purposes are expressed, and of the circumstances under which the language was employed. . . .
“It is not unusual for the same word to be used with different meanings in the same act, and there is no rule of statutory construction which precludes the courts from giving to the word the meaning which the legislature intended it should have in each instance.” Id., at 433.
I conclude that the plain language of the statute does not unequivocally support the Secretary‘s interpretation. It is equally consistent with the opposite conclusion that Title II payments fall within the broad, inclusive phrase “any child support payments.” It is therefore proper to turn to the purpose and history of the disregard provision for aid in construing that provision.
II
The majority, in its conservatively restrictive approach, makes only passing reference to the hardship brought about by the DEFRA amendments. A closer look at the effect of these amendments is necessary to understand the function of the disregard provision. DEFRA changed the AFDC statutes in two ways relevant here. First, it established
Under prior law, parents could choose to exclude from their AFDC applications children who received income from other sources. This exclusion, in some circumstances, was advantageous to the family; although the family then would not receive AFDC funds for the excluded child, that child‘s income would not be considered in determining its overall AFDC eligibility. Thus, in situations where a child‘s separate income was greater than the incremental amount of AFDC benefits the family would receive for that child, the family was better off not counting the child in its AFDC application.
Along with the new requirement, however, Congress enacted the provision at issue here. The Court in Gilliard explained:
“Because the 1984 amendments forced families to include in the filing unit children for whom support payments were being received, the practical effect was that many families’ total income was reduced. The burden of the change was mitigated somewhat by a separate amendment providing that the first $50 of child support collected by the State must be remitted to the family and not counted as income for the purpose of determining its benefit level.” Id., at 594.7
“The conference agreement follows the Senate amendment with the following modification: a monthly disregard of $50 of child support received by a family is established.” H. R. Conf. Rep. No. 98-861, p. 1407 (1984).
Neither the House bill nor the Senate bill had contained a disregard provision prior to the Conference, nor is there any discussion in the legislative history of such a provision. The only plausible explanation for its sudden appearance is that it was meant to assuage the concerns of some Members of Congress about the harsh impact of the DEFRA amendments and thus to facilitate the passage of the mandatory filing-unit requirement.
The burden of the DEFRA amendments falls equally on families with children receiving Title II benefits and on those with children receiving court-ordered support payments. The mitigating purpose of the disregard provision therefore applies equally to both categories of families. The purpose and history of the disregard provision support the Court of Appeals’ interpretation of that provision and resolve any
Since the Secretary‘s interpretation of the disregard rule is not compelled by the language of the statute and is not supported by its purpose and legislative history, it is not entitled to deference and should be rejected by this Court. See NLRB v. Food & Commercial Workers, 484 U. S. 112, 123 (1987) (“On a pure question of statutory construction, our first job is to try to determine congressional intent, using ‘traditional tools of statutory construction.’ If we can do so, then that interpretation must be given effect, and the regulations at issue must be fully consistent with it“); Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 843, n. 9 (1984) (“The judiciary is the final authority on issues of statutory construction and must reject administrative constructions which are contrary to clear congressional intent. . . . If a court, employing traditional tools of statutory construction, ascertains that Congress had an intention on the precise question at issue, that intention is the law and must be given effect“).
III
Even if the meaning of “child support” in the disregard provision were ambiguous, however, the Secretary‘s interpretation should still be rejected because it is so arbitrary as not to reflect a “permissible construction of the statute.” Id., at 843. The Secretary‘s position is that the disregard applies to legally compulsory child support payments, voluntary child support payments, and spousal support payments by absent parents, but not to Title II payments. See nn. 4 and 5, supra.
Consider, for example, a family consisting of a mother and three children. One of the children is of a prior marriage and receives support from her absent father. The father voluntarily sets aside a portion of his wages every month and sends them to the mother for the child‘s support. The disregard
Throughout this example, the child‘s and her family‘s financial needs remain the same. The impact of the mandatory filing-unit requirement, forcing the family to count the child‘s income in its AFDC application and thus reducing the level of its benefits, remains the same. The source of the child‘s income - her father‘s earnings - and the purpose of that income - to fulfill his duty to provide for the needs of his dependent child - remain the same. But the applicability of the disregard provision changes with the vagaries of the Secretary‘s regulations.
The Secretary argues that his interpretation of the disregard provision is rational because the disregard serves as an incentive for absent parents to make support payments and for custodial parents to cooperate in enforcement efforts (since $50 of those payments directly benefits the family and does not merely reimburse the State for AFDC). But there is simply no indication that Congress intended to limit the applicability of the disregard provision to situations in which it would serve as an incentive. There is no mention of such a purpose in the legislative history of the provision; moreover, the Secretary points to no discussion of the need for such an incentive anywhere in the legislative history of the DEFRA amendments.8
Thus, I believe that the Secretary cannot provide any rational explanation for his view that the disregard provision does not apply to Title II payments. Even assuming that the provision is ambiguous and that Chevron deference is to
state agency to be disregarded in determining the family‘s income level.
By 1984, the assignment and cooperation requirements were longstanding conditions of AFDC eligibility. Custodial parents who failed to assign their support rights and cooperate in enforcement efforts would know that they stood to lose their AFDC benefits. The very different contexts in which the 1974 and 1984 disregard statutes were enacted thus give an additional reason for this Court‘s usual reluctance to infer the intent of one Congress from the views expressed by another. See Russello v. United States, 464 U. S. 16, 26 (1983); Oscar Mayer & Co. v. Evans, 441 U. S. 750, 758 (1979).
I dissent.
JUSTICE STEVENS, dissenting.
Although the answer to the question presented by this case is not quite as clear to me as it is to JUSTICE BLACKMUN, I believe he has the better of the argument. If one puts aside legal terminology and considers ordinary English usage, Social Security benefits paid to the surviving child of a deceased wage earner are reasonably characterized as a form of “child support payments” - indeed, they are quite obviously payments made to support children. Moreover, respondents’ interpretation of Title IV of the Social Security Act effectuates congressional intent: If a $50 portion of Social Security payments is disregarded when a family‘s eligibility for aid is determined, children with equal need will be more likely to receive equal aid. Finally, the interpretation achieves this parity in a way that serves the disregard provision‘s purpose - fairly inferred from legislative history - of mitigating the hardships imposed by the 1984 amendment that required families applying for aid to count child support payments as available income.
Thus, Title II children‘s benefit payments are fairly encompassed by both the language and the purpose of the disregard provision. It may be that Congress did not sharply focus on the specific problem presented by this case; the statutory terminology suggests as much. Yet, this fact does not seem to me sufficient reason for refusing to give effect to Congress’ more general intent, an intent that is expressed, albeit imperfectly, in the language Congress chose. For these