106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4866

AN ACT

To provide for reconciliation pursuant to section

103(b)(1) of the concurrent resolution on thebudget for fiscal year 2001 to reduce the publicdebt and to decrease the statutory limit on thepublic debt.

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4866

AN ACT

To provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 103(b)(1)

of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal

year 2001 to reduce the public debt and to decrease

the statutory limit on the public debt.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2

•HR 4866 EH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Debt Relief Reconcili3 ation Act for Fiscal Year 2001’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

6 (1) fiscal discipline, resulting from the Bal7 anced Budget Act of 1997, and strong economic

8 growth have ended decades of deficit spending and

9 have produced budget surpluses without using the

10 social security surplus;

11 (2) fiscal pressures will mount in the future as

12 the aging of the population increases budget obliga13 tions;

14 (3) until Congress and the President agree to

15 legislation that strengthens Social Security, the so16 cial security surplus should be used to reduce the

17 debt held by the public;

18 (4) strengthening the Government’s fiscal posi19 tion through public debt reduction increases national

20 savings, promotes economic growth, reduces interest

21 costs, and is a constructive way to prepare for the

22 Government’s future budget obligations; and

23 (5) it is fiscally responsible and in the long24 term national economic interest to use a portion of

25 the nonsocial security surplus to reduce the debt

26 held by the public.
3

•HR 4866 EH

1 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to—

2 (1) reduce the debt held by the public with the

3 goal of eliminating this debt by 2013; and

4 (2) decrease the statutory limit on the public

5 debt.

6 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC DEBT REDUCTION

7 PAYMENT ACCOUNT.

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

9 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end

10 the following new section:

11 ‘‘§ 3114. Public debt reduction payment account

12 ‘‘(a) There is established in the Treasury of the

13 United States an account to be known as the Public Debt

14 Reduction Payment Account (hereinafter in this section

15 referred to as the ‘account’).

16 ‘‘(b) The Secretary of the Treasury shall use amounts

17 in the account to pay at maturity, or to redeem or buy

18 before maturity, any obligation of the Government held

19 by the public and included in the public debt. Any obliga20 tion which is paid, redeemed, or bought with amounts

21 from the account shall be canceled and retired and may

22 not be reissued. Amounts deposited in the account are ap23 propriated and may only be expended to carry out this

24 section.
4

•HR 4866 EH

1 ‘‘(c) There is hereby appropriated into the account

2 on October 1, 2000, or the date of enactment of this Act,

3 whichever is later, out of any money in the Treasury not

4 otherwise appropriated, $25,000,000,000 for the fiscal

5 year ending September 30, 2001. The funds appropriated

6 to this account shall remain available until expended.

7 ‘‘(d) The appropriation made under subsection (c)

8 shall not be considered direct spending for purposes of sec9 tion 252 of Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Con10 trol Act of 1985.

11 ‘‘(e) Establishment of and appropriations to the ac12 count shall not affect trust fund transfers that may be

13 authorized under any other provision of law.

14 ‘‘(f) The Secretary of the Treasury and the Director

15 of the Office of Management and Budget shall each take

16 such actions as may be necessary to promptly carry out

17 this section in accordance with sound debt management

18 policies.

19 ‘‘(g) Reducing the debt pursuant to this section shall

20 not interfere with the debt management policies or goals

21 of the Secretary of the Treasury.’’.

22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter anal23 ysis for chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, is

24 amended by inserting after the item relating to section

25 3113 the following:

‘‘3114. Public debt reduction payment account.’’.
5

•HR 4866 EH

1 SEC. 4. REDUCTION OF STATUTORY LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC

2 DEBT.

3 Section 3101(b) of title 31, United States Code, is

4 amended by inserting ‘‘minus the amount appropriated

5 into the Public Debt Reduction Payment Account pursu6 ant to section 3114(c)’’ after ‘‘$5,950,000,000,000’’.

7 SEC. 5. OFF-BUDGET STATUS OF PUBLIC DEBT REDUCTION

8 PAYMENT ACCOUNT.

9 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the re10 ceipts and disbursements of the Public Debt Reduction

11 Payment Account established by section 3114 of title 31,

12 United States Code, shall not be counted as new budget

13 authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for pur14 poses of—

15 (1) the budget of the United States Govern16 ment as submitted by the President;

17 (2) the congressional budget; or

18 (3) the Balanced Budget and Emergency Def19 icit Control Act of 1985.

20 SEC. 6. REMOVING PUBLIC DEBT REDUCTION PAYMENT AC21 COUNT FROM BUDGET PRONOUNCEMENTS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any official statement issued by

23 the Office of Management and Budget, the Congressional

24 Budget Office, or any other agency or instrumentality of

25 the Federal Government of surplus or deficit totals of the

26 budget of the United States Government as submitted by
6

•HR 4866 EH

1 the President or of the surplus or deficit totals of the con2 gressional budget, and any description of, or reference to,

3 such totals in any official publication or material issued

4 by either of such Offices or any other such agency or in5 strumentality, shall exclude the outlays and receipts of the

6 Public Debt Reduction Payment Account established by

7 section 3114 of title 31, United States Code.

8 (b) SEPARATE PUBLIC DEBT REDUCTION PAYMENT

9 ACCOUNT BUDGET DOCUMENTS.—The excluded outlays

10 and receipts of the Public Debt Reduction Payment Ac11 count established by section 3114 of title 31, United

12 States Code, shall be submitted in separate budget docu13 ments.

14 SEC. 7. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

15 (a) REPORTS OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREAS16 URY.—(1) Within 30 days after the appropriation is de17 posited into the Public Debt Reduction Payment Account

18 under section 3114 of title 31, United States Code, the

19 Secretary of the Treasury shall submit a report to the

20 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep21 resentatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate

22 confirming that such account has been established and the

23 amount and date of such deposit. Such report shall also

24 include a description of the Secretary’s plan for using such

25 money to reduce debt held by the public.
7

•HR 4866 EH

1 (2) Not later than October 31, 2002, the Secretary

2 of the Treasury shall submit a report to the Committee

3 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and

4 the Committee on Finance of the Senate setting forth the

5 amount of money deposited into the Public Debt Reduc6 tion Payment Account, the amount of debt held by the

7 public that was reduced, and a description of the actual

8 debt instruments that were redeemed with such money.

9 (b) REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF

10 THE UNITED STATES.—Not later than November 15,

11 2002, the Comptroller General of the United States shall

12 submit a report to the Committee on Ways and Means

13 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on

14 Finance of the Senate verifying all of the information set

15 forth in the reports submitted under subsection (a).

Passed the House of Representatives July 18, 2000.

Attest:

Clerk.