Union Calendar No. 176

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2586

[Report No. 104–325]

A BILL

To provide for a temporary increase in the public

debt limit, and for other purposes.

NOVEMBER 7, 1995

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 176

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2586

[Report No. 104–325]

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

NOVEMBER 7, 1995

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]

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 follow-
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1 ing new sentence: ‘‘During the period after the date of

2 the enactment of this sentence, the preceding sentence

3 shall be applied by substituting for the dollar amount con4 tained therein—

5 ‘‘(1) ‘$4,950,000,000,000’ ‘$4,967,000,000,000’

6 for the portion of such period before December 13,

7 1995, and

8 ‘‘(2) ‘$4,800,000,000,000’ after December 12,

9 1995.’’

10 SEC. 2. APPLICABILITY OF PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT TO FED11 ERAL TRUST FUNDS AND OTHER FEDERAL

12 ACCOUNTS.

13 (a) PROTECTION OF FEDERAL FUNDS.—Notwith14 standing any other provision of law—

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

16 may—

17 (A) delay the deposit of any amount into

18 (or delay the credit of any amount to) any Fed19 eral fund or otherwise vary from the normal

20 terms, procedures, or timing for making such

21 deposits or credits, or

22 (B) refrain from the investment in public

23 debt obligations of amounts in any Federal

24 fund,
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1 if a purpose of such action or inaction is to not in2 crease the amount of outstanding public debt obliga3 tions, and

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

5 may disinvest amounts in any Federal fund which

6 are invested in public debt obligations if a purpose

7 of the disinvestment is to reduce the amount of out8 standing public debt obligations.

9 (b) PROTECTION OF BENEFITS AND EXPENDITURES

10 FOR ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection

12 (a), during any period for which cash benefits or ad13 ministrative expenses would not otherwise be payable

14 from a covered benefits fund by reason of an inabil15 ity to issue further public debt obligations because

16 of the applicable public debt limit, public debt obli17 gations held by such covered benefits fund shall be

18 sold or redeemed only for the purpose of making

19 payment of such benefits or administrative expenses

20 and only to the extent cash assets of the covered

21 benefits fund are not available from month to month

22 for making payment of such benefits or administra23 tive expenses.

24 (2) ISSUANCE OF CORRESPONDING DEBT.—For

25 purposes of undertaking the sale or redemption of
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1 public debt obligations held by a covered benefits

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

3 Treasury may issue corresponding public debt obli4 gations to the public, in order to obtain the cash

5 necessary for payment of benefits or administrative

6 expenses from such covered benefits fund, notwith7 standing the public debt limit.

8 (3) ADVANCE NOTICE OF SALE OR REDEMP9 TION.—Not less than 3 days prior to the date on

10 which, by reason of the public debt limit, the Sec11 retary of the Treasury expects to undertake a sale

12 or redemption authorized under paragraph (1), the

13 Secretary of the Treasury shall report to each House

14 of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of

15 the United States regarding the expected sale or re16 demption. Upon receipt of such report, the Comp17 troller General shall review the extent of compliance

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

19 this subsection and shall issue such findings and rec20 ommendations to each House of the Congress as the

21 Comptroller General considers necessary and appro22 priate.

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

24 this section, the term ‘‘public debt obligation’’ means any
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1 obligation subject to the public debt limit established

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

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

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

5 or Government account established pursuant to Federal

6 law to which the Secretary of the Treasury has issued or

7 is expressly authorized by law directly to issue obligations

8 under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, in re9 spect of public money, money otherwise required to be de10 posited in the Treasury, or amounts appropriated.

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

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

13 any Federal fund from which cash benefits are payable

14 by law in the form of retirement benefits, separation pay15 ments, life or disability insurance benefits, or dependent’s

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

17 following:

18 (1) the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insur19 ance Trust Fund;

20 (2) the Federal Disability Insurance Trust

21 Fund;

22 (3) the Civil Service Retirement and Disability

23 Fund;

24 (4) the Government Securities Investment

25 Fund;
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1 (5) the Department of Defense Military Retire2 ment Fund;

3 (6) the Unemployment Trust Fund;

4 (7) each of the railroad retirement funds and

5 accounts;

6 (8) the Department of Defense Education Ben7 efits Fund and the Post-Vietnam Era Veterans Edu8 cation Fund; and

9 (9) the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.

10 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

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

12 5, United States Code, and subsections (g) and (h) of sec13 tion 8438 of such title are hereby repealed.