I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 948

To amend chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, to establish lower

statutory limits for debt held by the public for each of fiscal years

2000 through 2009, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 2, 1999

Mr. MORAN of Kansas (for himself and Mr. PICKERING) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and

in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction to the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, to

establish lower statutory limits for debt held by the public for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2009, and

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Debt Downpayment

5 Act’’.
2

•HR 948 IH

1 SEC. 2. STATUTORY LIMITS ON PUBLICLY-HELD DEBT.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 31 of title

3 31 of the United States Code is amended by adding at

4 the end the following new section:

5 ‘‘§ 3114. Limits on publicly-held debt

6 ‘‘(a) The face amount of publicly-held obligations

7 issued under this chapter and the face amount of publicly8 held obligations whose principal and interest are guaran9 teed by the United States Government (except guaranteed

10 obligations held by the Secretary of the Treasury) may

11 not be more than—

12 ‘‘(1) $3,515,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep13 tember 30, 2000;

14 ‘‘(2) $3,378,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep15 tember 30, 2001;

16 ‘‘(3) $3,183,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep17 tember 30, 2002;

18 ‘‘(4) $2,989,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep19 tember 30, 2003;

20 ‘‘(5) $2,770,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep21 tember 30, 2004;

22 ‘‘(6) $2,529,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep23 tember 30, 2005;

24 ‘‘(7) $2,237,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep25 tember 30, 2006;
3

•HR 948 IH

1 ‘‘(8) $1,917,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep2 tember 30, 2007;

3 ‘‘(9) $1,574,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep4 tember 30, 2008; or

5 ‘‘(10) $1,206,000,000,000 outstanding on Sep6 tember 30, 2009.

7 ‘‘(b) In this section, the current redemption value of

8 an obligation issued on a discount basis and redeemable

9 before maturity at the option of its holder is deemed to

10 be the face amount of the obligation.

11 ‘‘(c) For purposes of this section, the face amount,

12 for any month, of any obligation issued on a discount basis

13 that is not redeemable before maturity at the option of

14 the holder of the obligation is an amount equal to the sum

15 of—

16 ‘‘(1) the original issue price of the obligation,

17 plus

18 ‘‘(2) the portion of the discount on the obliga19 tion attributable to periods before the beginning of

20 such month (as determined under the principles of

21 section 1272(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of

22 1986 without regard to any exceptions contained in

23 paragraph (2) of such section).

24 ‘‘(d) The provisions of this title may be waived by

25 law—
4

•HR 948 IH

1 ‘‘(1) for any fiscal year in which a declaration

2 of war is in effect; or

3 ‘‘(2) for the budget year and the next fiscal

4 year, if real economic growth has been negative for

5 two consecutive calendar quarters.

6 ‘‘(e) For purposes of this section:

7 ‘‘(1) The term ‘publicly-held obligation’ means

8 any obligation subject to the public debt limit estab9 lished under section 3101, except any obligation

10 issued under this chapter directly to a Federal fund.

11 ‘‘(2) The term ‘Federal fund’ means any Fed12 eral trust fund or Government account established

13 pursuant to Federal law to which the Secretary of

14 the Treasury has issued or is expressly authorized

15 by law directly to issue obligations under this chap16 ter in respect of public money, money otherwise re17 quired to be deposited in the Treasury, or amounts

18 appropriated.’’.

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter analy20 sis of subchapter I of chapter 31 of title 31, United States

21 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new

22 item:

‘‘3114. Limits on publicly held debt.’’.
5

•HR 948 IH

1 SEC. 3. REMOVING SOCIAL SECURITY FROM BUDGET SUR2 PLUS/DEFICIT PRONOUNCEMENTS.

3 (a) SURPLUS OR DEFICIT TOTALS.—Any official

4 statement issued by the Office of Management and Budget

5 or by the Congressional Budget Office of surplus or deficit

6 totals of the budget of the United States Government as

7 submitted by the President or of the surplus or deficit to8 tals of the congressional budget, and any description of,

9 or reference to, such totals in any official publication or

10 material issued by either of such offices, shall exclude the

11 receipts and disbursements totals of the old-age, survivors,

12 and disability insurance program under title II of the So13 cial Security Act (including the Federal Old-Age and Sur14 vivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability

15 Insurance Trust Fund) and the related provisions of the

16 Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

17 (b) PRESENTATION OF BUDGETARY AGGREGATES.—

18 For purposes of chapter 11 of title 31 of the United States

19 Code or the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, tables and

20 other displays of budgetary aggregates for the United

21 States Government of the Director of the Office of Man22 agement and Budget or the Director of the Congressional

23 Budget Office shall not include receipts or disbursements

24 referred to in subsection (a).

Æ