II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 716 

To require that any debt limit increase be balanced by equal spending cuts 

over the next decade. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2017 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. BARRASSO, and Mr. LEE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on the Budget 

A BILL 

To require that any debt limit increase be balanced by equal 

spending cuts over the next decade. 

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 ‘‘Dollar-for-Dollar Def5 icit Reduction Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 31. 

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

8 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after sec9 tion 3101A the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 3101B. Debt limit control 

2 ‘‘(a) DECLARATION OF A DEBT LIMIT WARNING.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the event of a near 

4 breach of the public debt limit established by section 

5 3101, the Secretary of the Treasury shall issue a 

6 debt limit warning to the Committee on Finance of 

7 the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means 

8 of the House of Representatives that shall include a 

9 determination as to when extraordinary measures 

10 may be necessary in order to prolong the funding of 

11 the United States Government. 

12 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

13 ‘‘(A) EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES.—The 

14 term ‘extraordinary measures’ means measures 

15 that may be taken by the Secretary of the 

16 Treasury in the event of a breach of the debt 

17 limit by the United States to prolong the func18 tion of the United States Government in the ab19 sence of a debt limit increase. 

20 ‘‘(B) NEAR BREACH.—The term ‘near 

21 breach’ means the point at which the Secretary 

22 of the Treasury determines that the United 

23 States Government will reach the statutorily 

24 prescribed debt limit within 60 calendar days 

25 notwithstanding the implementation of extraor26 dinary measures. 


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1 ‘‘(b) PRESIDENTIAL SUBMISSION OF DEBT LIMIT

2 LEGISLATION.— 

3 ‘‘(1) SAVINGS RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE

4 PRESIDENT.—Any formal Presidential request to in5 crease the debt limit under this section shall include 

6 the amount of the proposed debt limit increase and 

7 be accompanied by proposed legislation to reduce 

8 spending over the sum of the current and following 

9 10 years by an amount equal to or greater than the 

10 amount of the requested debt limit increase. Net in11 terest savings may not be counted towards spending 

12 reductions required by this paragraph. 

13 ‘‘(2) CALCULATION.—The spending savings 

14 under paragraph (1) shall be calculated against a 

15 budget baseline consistent with section 257 of the 

16 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 

17 Act of 1985. This baseline shall exclude the extrapo18 lation of any spending that had been enacted under 

19 an emergency designation.’’. 

20 (b) SUBCHAPTER ANALYSIS.—The table of sections 

21 for chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, is amended 

22 by inserting after the item for section 3101A the following: 

‘‘3101B. Debt limit control.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL REQUIREMENT TO RESTRAIN 

2 SPENDING WHILE RAISING THE DEBT LIMIT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Congress and 

4 Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended 

5 by inserting at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 316. DEBT LIMIT INCREASE POINT OF ORDER. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

8 ‘‘(1) POINT OF ORDER.—Except as provided in 

9 subsection (b), it shall not be in order in the Senate 

10 or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, 

11 joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference 

12 report that increases the statutory debt limit unless 

13 the bill contains net spending reductions of an equal 

14 or greater amount over the sum of the current and 

15 next 10 fiscal years. Net interest savings may not be 

16 counted towards spending reductions required by 

17 this paragraph. 

18 ‘‘(2) COMPONENTS OF NET SPENDING REDUC19 TION.— 

20 ‘‘(A) CALCULATION.—The savings result21 ing from the proposed spending reductions 

22 under paragraph (1) shall be calculated by the 

23 Congressional Budget Office against a budget 

24 baseline consistent with section 257 of the Bal25 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 

26 Act of 1985. This baseline shall exclude the exVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Mar 28, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S716.IS S716

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1 trapolation of any spending that had been en2 acted under an emergency designation. 

3 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY.—The Senate and the 

4 House of Representatives may not vote on any 

5 bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or 

6 conference report that increases the public debt 

7 limit unless the cost estimate of that measure 

8 prepared by the Congressional Budget Office 

9 has been publicly available on the Web site of 

10 the Congressional Budget Office for at least 24 

11 hours. 

12 ‘‘(C) PROHIBIT TIMING SHIFTS.—Any pro13 vision that shifts outlays or revenues from with14 in the 10-year window to outside the window 

15 shall not count towards the budget savings tar16 get for purposes of this subsection. 

17 ‘‘(b) SENATE SUPERMAJORITY WAIVER AND AP18 PEAL.— 

19 ‘‘(1) WAIVER.—In the Senate, subsection (a)(1) 

20 may be waived or suspended only by an affirmative 

21 vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and 

22 sworn. 

23 ‘‘(2) APPEAL.—An affirmative vote of three24 fifths of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and 

25 sworn, shall be required to sustain an appeal of the 


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1 ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under 

2 subsection (a)(1).’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con4 tents set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget 

5 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by in6 serting after section 315 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 316. Debt limit increase point of order.’’. 

Æ 


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