I 

119TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 182 

To ensure the payment of interest and principal of the debt of the United 

States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2025 

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

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To ensure the payment of interest and principal of the debt 

of the United States. 

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 ‘‘Default Prevention 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PAYMENT OF OBLIGATIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—At any time that the debt of the 

8 United States Government subject to limitation under sec9 tion 3101 of title 31, United States Code, has reached the 

10 limitation imposed under such section, the Secretary of 


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1 the Treasury (hereafter in this section referred to as ‘‘the 

2 Secretary’’) shall— 

3 (1) pay Tier I obligations as such obligations 

4 become due, 

5 (2) issue such obligations under chapter 31 of 

6 title 31, United States Code, as— 

7 (A) are necessary to make the payments 

8 described in paragraph (1), or 

9 (B) are to be held exclusively by a trust 

10 fund referred to in subsection (b)(1)(A), 

11 (3) pay Tier III obligations only to the extent 

12 that the Secretary can still pay all Tier II obliga13 tions as such obligations become due, 

14 (4) pay Tier IV obligations only to the extent 

15 that the Secretary can still pay all Tier II and Tier 

16 III obligations as such obligations become due, 

17 (5) pay Tier V obligations only to the extent 

18 that the Secretary can still pay all Tier II, Tier III, 

19 and Tier IV obligations as such obligations become 

20 due, and 

21 (6) submit to the Committee on Ways and 

22 Means of the House of Representatives and the 

23 Committee on Finance of the Senate a weekly writ24 ten report containing the information described in 

25 subsection (d). 


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1 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

2 (1) TIER I OBLIGATIONS.—The term ‘‘Tier I 

3 obligations’’ means payments necessary to provide 

4 any of the following: 

5 (A) Payment with legal tender pursuant to 

6 the authority provided under section 3123 of 

7 title 31, United States Code, of principal and 

8 interest on debt held by— 

9 (i) the public, 

10 (ii) the Federal Old-Age and Sur11 vivors Insurance Trust Fund or the Fed12 eral Disability Insurance Trust Fund, or 

13 (iii) the Federal Hospital Insurance 

14 Trust Fund or the Federal Supplementary 

15 Medical Insurance Trust Fund. 

16 (B) Payments under the Medicare program 

17 under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 

18 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.). 

19 (2) TIER II OBLIGATIONS.—The term ‘‘Tier II 

20 obligations’’ means payments necessary to provide 

21 any of the following: 

22 (A) Any obligation of the Department of 

23 Defense. 

24 (B) Benefits under laws administered by 

25 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 


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1 (3) TIER III OBLIGATIONS.—The term ‘‘Tier III 

2 obligations’’ means any obligation of the United 

3 States which is not a Tier I, Tier II, Tier IV, or 

4 Tier V obligation. 

5 (4) TIER IV OBLIGATIONS.—The term ‘‘Tier IV 

6 obligations’’ means any payment which constitutes 

7 any of the following: 

8 (A) Compensation for any Federal em9 ployee for official time under section 7131 of 

10 such title 5, United States Code. 

11 (B) Any payment for travel expenses for 

12 any officer or employee of the Executive branch 

13 of Government, including the President and 

14 Vice President, unless such payment is a Tier 

15 I or Tier II obligation. 

16 (C) Compensation of any officer or em17 ployee of the Executive branch of Government 

18 (other than an individual in the competitive 

19 service, as defined in section 2102 of title 5, 

20 United States Code), including the President 

21 and Vice President, unless such compensation is 

22 a Tier I or Tier II obligation. 

23 (5) TIER V OBLIGATIONS.—The term ‘‘Tier V 

24 obligations’’ means compensation of any Member of 


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1 Congress (as that term is defined in section 2106 of 

2 title 5, United States Code). 

3 (c) COORDINATION WITH PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT.—Ob4 ligations issued under subsection (a)(2) shall not be taken 

5 into account as subject to the limitation imposed under 

6 section 3101(b) of title 31, United States Code. The pre7 ceding sentence shall not apply with respect to any obliga8 tion after the first date (after the issuance of such obliga9 tion) on which any modification or suspension of such lim10 itation takes effect. 

11 (d) WEEKLY REPORTS.—The written report referred 

12 to in subsection (a)(6) shall include, with respect to the 

13 period covered by such report— 

14 (1) the amount of Tier I obligations paid under 

15 subsection (a)(1) during such period, 

16 (2) the amount of obligations issued under sub17 section (a)(2) during such period, and 

18 (3) the amount of Tier II obligations, Tier III 

19 obligations, Tier IV obligations, and Tier V obliga20 tions which were paid during such period (stated 

21 separately for each tier) and the aggregate amount 

22 of such obligations which were due and unpaid as of 

23 the close of such period (stated separately for each 

24 tier). 


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1 (e) NO INFERENCE WITH RESPECT TO EXISTING

2 AUTHORITY TO PRIORITIZE PAYMENTS.—During any pe3 riod with respect to which this section does not apply, 

4 nothing in this section shall be interpreted to restrict the 

5 authority of the Secretary to prioritize the payment of cer6 tain obligations over other obligations. 

Æ 


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