I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2586

To provide for a temporary increase in the public debt limit, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 7, 1995

Mr. ARCHER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To provide for a temporary increase in the public debt limit,

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. TEMPORARY INCREASE IN PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT.

4 Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow6 ing new sentence: ‘‘During the period after the date of

7 the enactment of this sentence, the preceding sentence

8 shall be applied by substituting for the dollar amount con9 tained therein—
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1 ‘‘(1) ‘$4,950,000,000,000’ for the portion of

2 such period before December 13, 1995, and

3 ‘‘(2) ‘$4,800,000,000,000’ after December 12,

4 1995.’’

5 SEC. 2. APPLICABILITY OF PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT TO FED6 ERAL TRUST FUNDS AND OTHER FEDERAL

7 ACCOUNTS.

8 (a) PROTECTION OF FEDERAL FUNDS.—Notwith9 standing any other provision of law—

10 (1) no officer or employee of the United States

11 may—

12 (A) delay the deposit of any amount into

13 (or delay the credit of any amount to) any Fed14 eral fund or otherwise vary from the normal

15 terms, procedures, or timing for making such

16 deposits or credits, or

17 (B) refrain from the investment in public

18 debt obligations of amounts in any Federal

19 fund,

20 if a purpose of such action or inaction is to not in21 crease the amount of outstanding public debt obliga22 tions, and

23 (2) no officer or employee of the United States

24 may disinvest amounts in any Federal fund which

25 are invested in public debt obligations if a purpose
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1 of the disinvestment is to reduce the amount of out2 standing public debt obligations.

3 (b) PROTECTION OF BENEFITS AND EXPENDITURES

4 FOR ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection

6 (a), during any period for which cash benefits or ad7 ministrative expenses would not otherwise be payable

8 from a covered benefits fund by reason of an inabil9 ity to issue further public debt obligations because

10 of the applicable public debt limit, public debt obli11 gations held by such covered benefits fund shall be

12 sold or redeemed only for the purpose of making

13 payment of such benefits or administrative expenses

14 and only to the extent cash assets of the covered

15 benefits fund are not available from month to month

16 for making payment of such benefits or administra17 tive expenses.

18 (2) ISSUANCE OF CORRESPONDING DEBT.—For

19 purposes of undertaking the sale or redemption of

20 public debt obligations held by a covered benefits

21 fund pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary of the

22 Treasury may issue corresponding public debt obli23 gations to the public, in order to obtain the cash

24 necessary for payment of benefits or administrative
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1 expenses from such covered benefits fund, notwith2 standing the public debt limit.

3 (3) ADVANCE NOTICE OF SALE OR REDEMP4 TION.—Not less than 3 days prior to the date on

5 which, by reason of the public debt limit, the Sec6 retary of the Treasury expects to undertake a sale

7 or redemption authorized under paragraph (1), the

8 Secretary of the Treasury shall report to each House

9 of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of

10 the United States regarding the expected sale or re11 demption. Upon receipt of such report, the Comp12 troller General shall review the extent of compliance

13 with subsection (a) and paragraphs (1) and (2) of

14 this subsection and shall issue such findings and rec15 ommendations to each House of the Congress as the

16 Comptroller General considers necessary and appro17 priate.

18 (c) PUBLIC DEBT OBLIGATION.—For purposes of

19 this section, the term ‘‘public debt obligation’’ means any

20 obligation subject to the public debt limit established

21 under section 3101 of title 31, United States Code.

22 (d) FEDERAL FUND.—For purposes of this section,

23 the term ‘‘Federal fund’’ means any Federal trust fund

24 or Government account established pursuant to Federal

25 law to which the Secretary of the Treasury has issued or
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1 is expressly authorized by law directly to issue obligations

2 under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, in re3 spect of public money, money otherwise required to be de4 posited in the Treasury, or amounts appropriated.

5 (e) COVERED BENEFITS FUND.—For purposes of

6 subsection (b), the term ‘‘covered benefits fund’’ means

7 any Federal fund from which cash benefits are payable

8 by law in the form of retirement benefits, separation pay9 ments, life or disability insurance benefits, or dependent’s

10 or survivor’s benefits, including (but not limited to) the

11 following:

12 (1) the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insur13 ance Trust Fund;

14 (2) the Federal Disability Insurance Trust

15 Fund;

16 (3) the Civil Service Retirement and Disability

17 Fund;

18 (4) the Government Securities Investment

19 Fund;

20 (5) the Department of Defense Military Retire21 ment Fund;

22 (6) the Unemployment Trust Fund;

23 (7) each of the railroad retirement funds and

24 accounts;
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1 (8) the Department of Defense Education Ben2 efits Fund and the Post-Vietnam Era Veterans Edu3 cation Fund; and

4 (9) the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.

5 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

6 Subsections (j), (k), and (l) of section 8348 of title

7 5, United States Code, and subsections (g) and (h) of sec8 tion 8438 of such title are hereby repealed.

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