I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3579 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before certain committees 

of the Congress before the United States reaches the debt limit and 

defaults on Government obligations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2013 

Mr. MARCHANT (for himself, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of 

Texas, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. NUNES, Mr. 

REICHERT, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. PRICE of Georgia, Ms. JENKINS, Mrs. 

BLACK, Mr. SCHOCK, Mr. YOUNG of Indiana, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas, Mr. RENACCI, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. FLORES, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. 

FARENTHOLD, Mr. MEADOWS, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. PETRI, Mr. CARTER, 

Ms. GRANGER, and Mr. WESTMORELAND) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before 

certain committees of the Congress before the United 

States reaches the debt limit and defaults on Government 

obligations. 

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 Management Act 

5 of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY REPORT TO CON2 GRESS BEFORE REACHING DEBT LIMIT. 

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

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

5 end the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 3131. Report before reaching debt limit 

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

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

9 the Secretary of the Treasury anticipates the public debt 

10 will reach the limit specified under section 3101, as modi11 fied by section 3101A, the Secretary shall appear before 

12 the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep13 resentatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, 

14 to provide the information described under subsection (b). 

15 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE PRE16 SENTED.—In an appearance described under subsection 

17 (a), the Secretary shall provide the following: 

18 ‘‘(1) DEBT REPORT.—A report on the state of 

19 the public debt, including— 

20 ‘‘(A) the historical trajectory of the debt, 

21 major drivers of and their quantities to the cur22 rent debt, and debt projections; and 

23 ‘‘(B) how, if the debt limit is raised, the 

24 United States will meet existing debt obliga25 tions, including principal and interest. 


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1 ‘‘(2) STATEMENT OF INTENT.—A detailed ex2 planation of— 

3 ‘‘(A) any proposal of the President to re4 duce the structural deficit in the short-term 

5 (the following fiscal year), medium-term (ap6 proximately three to five years), and long-term 

7 (approximately ten years); 

8 ‘‘(B) the impact an increased debt limit 

9 will have on future Government spending, serv10 ice provision, and the status of the United 

11 States dollar as the international reserve cur12 rency; 

13 ‘‘(C) projections of fiscal health and resil14 ience to long-term entitlement program pres15 sures (including Social Security, Medicare, and 

16 Medicaid), given the proposed measures to re17 duce the structural deficit and the amount of 

18 increase in the debt limit; and 

19 ‘‘(D) any proposal of the President to re20 duce the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio, 

21 based on current trends, with the exclusion of 

22 extreme events (i.e. military, economic, and nat23 ural catastrophes). 

24 ‘‘(3) PROGRESS REPORT.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A detailed report on 

2 the progress of implementing all proposals of 

3 the President described under subparagraph 

4 (A) or (D) of paragraph (2). 

5 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The report described 

6 under this paragraph shall only be provided if 

7 a Secretary has already appeared at least once 

8 pursuant to this section during any term of of9 fice for a particular President.’’. 

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

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

12 by inserting after the item relating to section 3130 the 

13 following: 

‘‘3131. Report before reaching debt limit.’’. 

Æ 


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