Sequestration Relief Act of 2013

Summary: Sequestration Relief Act of 2013 - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Controlled Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act), as amended by the Budget Control Act of 2011, to repeal automatic sequestration to enforce a specified budget goal. Reduces the discretionary spending limits for security and nonsecurity categories by $320 billion for FY2014-FY2021. Confines the current meaning of &quot;security category&quot; under the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act to FY2012-FY2013. Revises the definition of &quot;security category&quot; for FY2014-FY2021 to mean discretionary appropriations in all of budget function 050 (national defense). Amends the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 to suspend through January 31, 2017, the current $16.394 trillion public debt limit. Postpones until February 1, 2017, an automatic increase in the public debt limit to the extent that: (1) the face amount of obligations issued and the face amount of obligations whose principal and interest are guaranteed by the federal government (except guaranteed obligations held by the Secretary of the Treasury) outstanding on February 1, 2017, exceeds (2) the face amount of such obligations outstanding on the date of enactment of the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 (February 24, 2013). Prohibits an obligation from being taken into account unless its issuance was necessary to fund a commitment incurred by the federal government that required payment before February 1, 2017.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Sequestration Relief Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Congress must enact a comprehensive, deficit reduction 
        plan to solve the country's fiscal challenges and to promote 
        national security, economic stability, and the continued growth 
        and prosperity of the United States.
            (2) The keys to a comprehensive, deficit reduction solution 
        are increased revenues and changes in mandatory spending.
            (3) The Budget Control Act of 2011 was enacted to avert a 
        default on Federal debt obligations, and it reduced 
        discretionary spending by approximately $1 trillion through 
        fiscal year 2021.
            (4) Because the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction 
        failed to recommend legislation providing an additional $1.2 
        trillion in deficit reduction, Federal law mandates that the 
        additional savings be sequestered.
            (5) Sequestration was designed as a forcing mechanism for 
        an agreement on a comprehensive, deficit reduction plan. It has 
        failed to produce the intended results.
            (6) It no longer makes sense to rely on sequestration as a 
        forcing mechanism for a balanced solution. The costs to our 
        government and to the economy are too great.
            (7) Under sequestration, automatic, indiscriminate cuts 
        would be applied, through fiscal year 2021, to a wide variety 
        of discretionary spending programs to achieve $1.2 trillion in 
        savings, forestalling the sound planning needed for prudent and 
        meaningful investments in national security, the workforce, 
        transportation infrastructure, education, health care, public 
        safety, housing, innovation, small business development, and 
        many other facets of enduring national strength.
            (8) Even the prospect of sequestration is disruptive to 
        regular order and to the congressional appropriations process, 
        and it fosters damaging economic uncertainty, while short-term 
        solutions only suspend the prospect and continue to undermine 
        the certainty needed for economic recovery.
            (9) Therefore, Congress must eliminate the threat of 
        sequestration.
            (10) Given the magnitude of the Federal deficit, it is 
        likely that additional cuts to discretionary spending will be 
        necessary for a comprehensive deficit reduction solution.
            (11) Congress must establish a manageable, long-term 
        discretionary spending plan. An additional $320 billion in 
        targetable cuts to discretionary appropriations from fiscal 
        year 2014 through fiscal year 2021 represents one-third of the 
        net amount that would have been indiscriminately cut by 
        sequestration over fiscal years 2013 through 2021.
            (12) It is recognized that a reduction of $167 billion to 
        discretionary appropriations within budget function 050 from 
        fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2021 will affect the 
        National Military Strategy. The Department of Defense is highly 
        encouraged to revisit its current strategic guidance and to 
        work closely with Congress in building a new National Military 
        Strategy that accounts for available resource levels.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to--
            (1) eliminate the threat of sequestration to the American 
        economy;
            (2) offer the Federal Government, industry, and the 
        American people the predictability that economic recovery 
        demands;
            (3) enable the Congress to pass appropriations legislation 
        in regular order with a clear discretionary spending budget and 
        grant the legislative and executive branches of government the 
        flexibility needed to identify and implement specific 
        discretionary spending reductions in a responsible and 
        deliberate manner; and
            (4) provide a practicable, long-term discretionary spending 
        plan that will contribute to a comprehensive, balanced, long-
        term, deficit reduction solution that includes affordable 
        revisions to mandatory spending and new revenues.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF SECTION 251A SEQUESTRATIONS.

    Section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 
Act of 1985 is repealed.

SEC. 4. $320 BILLION REDUCTION IN DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LIMITS.

    The discretionary spending limits set forth in paragraphs (3) 
through (10) of section 251(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
Deficit Control Act of 1985 are amended to read as follows:
            ``(3) for fiscal year 2014--
                    ``(A) for the security category, $546,000,000,000 
                in budget authority; and
                    ``(B) for the nonsecurity category, 
                $501,000,000,000 in budget authority;
            ``(4) with respect to fiscal year 2015--
                    ``(A) for the security category, $550,000,000,000 
                in new budget authority; and
                    ``(B) for the nonsecurity category, 
                $505,000,000,000 in new budget authority;
            ``(5) with respect to fiscal year 2016--
                    ``(A) for the security category, $559,000,000,000 
                in new budget authority; and
                    ``(B) for the nonsecurity category, 
                $513,000,000,000 in new budget authority;
            ``(6) with respect to fiscal year 2017--
                    ``(A) for the security category, $569,000,000,000 
                in new budget authority; and
                    ``(B) for the nonsecurity category, 
                $522,000,000,000 in new budget authority;
            ``(7) with respect to fiscal year 2018--
                    ``(A) for the security category, $579,000,000,000 
                in new budget authority; and
                    ``(B) for the nonsecurity category, 
                $531,000,000,000 in new budget authority;
            ``(8) with respect to fiscal year 2019--
                    ``(A) for the security category, $589,500,000,000 
                in new budget authority; and
                    ``(B) for the nonsecurity category, 
                $541,000,000,000 in new budget authority;
            ``(9) with respect to fiscal year 2020--
                    ``(A) for the security category, $602,500,000,000 
                in new budget authority; and
                    ``(B) for the nonsecurity category, 
                $553,000,000,000 in new budget authority;
            ``(10) with respect to fiscal year 2021--
                    ``(A) for the security category, $616,000,000,000 
                in new budget authority; and
                    ``(B) for the nonsecurity category, 
                $565,000,000,000 in new budget authority;''.

SEC. 5. DEFINITION OF SECURITY CATEGORY.

    Section 250(c)(4)(B) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 
Control Act of 1985 is amended to read as follows:
            ``(B)(i) For fiscal years 2012 and 2013, the term `security 
        category' means discretionary appropriations associated with 
        agency budgets for the Department of Defense, the Department of 
        Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the 
        National Nuclear Security Administration, the intelligence 
        community management account (95-0401-0-1-054), and all budget 
        accounts in budget function 150 (international affairs).
            ``(ii) For fiscal years 2014 through 2021, the term 
        `security category' means discretionary appropriations in 
        budget function 050 (national defense).''.

SEC. 6. SUSPENSION OF STATUTORY LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC DEBT UNTIL FEBRUARY 
              1, 2017.

    Section 2 of the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``May 18, 2013'' and 
        inserting ``January 31, 2017''; and
            (2) in subsection (b), by striking ``May 19, 2013'' each 
        place it appears and inserting ``February 1, 2017''.