Attorney General Greg Abbott says a federal plan to cut funding for child support enforcement could hurt more than 1 million Texas youngsters.

The plan could lead to a $3 billion drop in collections in Texas over four years, Abbott said.

The proposal is part of the U.S. House budget cutting plan.

A parallel budget plan passed by the U.S. Senate doesn't include the child support enforcement cuts.

A conference committee will try to hash out a compromise.

Abbott wrote to the Texas congressional delegation -- asking them to keep the cuts out of the final version of the bill.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn urged conference committee members to reinstate the funding.

Texas will lose about $418 million between 2007 and 2010 if the cuts are enacted and Abbott says he'd have to lay off half of his child support enforcement staff.