I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 846 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to require the Secretary of the 

Treasury to appear before Congress before the debt limit is reached 

or extraordinary measures are taken to prevent default. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2023 

Mr. SCHWEIKERT (for himself, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, and Mr. SMUCKER) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to require the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before Congress before 

the debt limit is reached or extraordinary measures are 

taken to prevent default. 

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 Explanation Be5 fore Taxwriters Act’’ or the ‘‘DEBT Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SECRETARY OF TREASURY APPEARANCE BEFORE 

2 CONGRESS BEFORE REACHING DEBT LIMIT 

3 OR EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TAKEN. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 31 of 

5 title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

7 ‘‘§ 3131. Secretary of Treasury appearance before 

8 Congress before reaching debt limit or 

9 extraordinary measures taken 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not more than sixty days and 

11 not less than twenty-one days prior to any date on which 

12 the Secretary of the Treasury anticipates either that the 

13 public debt will reach the limit specified under section 

14 3101, as modified by section 3101A, or that extraordinary 

15 measures will be taken to prevent the United States from 

16 defaulting on its obligations, the Secretary shall appear 

17 before the Committee on Ways and Means of the House 

18 of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the 

19 Senate, to submit a detailed explanation of— 

20 ‘‘(1) any extraordinary measures the Secretary 

21 will take to fund Federal government obligations 

22 prior to such increase and an estimate of the admin23 istrative cost of taking such extraordinary measures; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(2) any reversal of such measures, and any 

2 other changes taken in the funding of Federal gov3 ernment obligations, as a result of such increase. 

4 ‘‘(b) EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES DEFINED.—For 

5 purposes of this section, the term ‘extraordinary measures’ 

6 means each of the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) Suspending sales of State and Local Gov8 ernment Series Treasury securities. 

9 ‘‘(2) Redeeming existing, and suspending new, 

10 investments of the Civil Service Retirement and Dis11 ability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health 

12 Benefits Fund. 

13 ‘‘(3) Suspending reinvestment of the Govern14 ment Securities Investment Fund. 

15 ‘‘(4) Suspending reinvestment of the Exchange 

16 Stabilization Fund. 

17 ‘‘(5) Directing or approving the issuance of 

18 debt by the Federal Financing Bank for the purpose 

19 of entering into an exchange transaction for debt 

20 that is subject to the limit under this section. 

21 ‘‘(6) Suspending investments in the Govern22 ment Securities Investment Fund of the Thrift Sav23 ings Fund. 


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1 ‘‘(7) Suspending investments in the stabiliza2 tion fund established under section 5302 of title 31, 

3 United States Code. 

4 ‘‘(8) Suspending new investments in the Civil 

5 Service Retirement and Disability Fund or the Post6 al Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund. 

7 ‘‘(9) Selling or redeeming securities, obligations, 

8 or other invested assets of the Civil Service Retire9 ment and Disability Fund or the Postal Service Re10 tiree Health Benefits Fund before maturity.’’. 

11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of analysis 

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

13 by inserting after the item relating to section 3130 the 

14 following: 

‘‘3131. Secretary of Treasury appearance before Congress before reaching debt 

limit or extraordinary measures taken.’’. 

Æ 


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