I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 835 

To stimulate the economy and provide for a sound United States dollar 

by defining a value for the dollar, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 3, 2009 

Mr. POE of Texas (for himself and Mr. FRANKS of Arizona) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 

and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means and the Budget, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To stimulate the economy and provide for a sound United 

States dollar by defining a value for the dollar, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dollar Bill Act of 

5 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of 

2 the United States provides that the Congress shall 

3 have Power to coin money, regulate the value there4 of, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of 

5 weights and measures. 

6 (2) Congress effectively delegated the power to 

7 regulate the value of United States money and for8 eign money to the Federal Reserve System via the 

9 Federal Reserve Act of 1913. 

10 (3) The value of the United States dollar has 

11 fallen dramatically relative to gold, crude oil, other 

12 real commodities and major foreign currencies. 

13 (4) The value of the United States dollar has 

14 become unstable and uncertain. 

15 (5) The Board of Governors of the Federal Re16 serve System has not produced a stable and reliable 

17 value for the United States dollar. 

18 (6) The Board of Governors of the Federal Re19 serve System cannot reasonably be expected to 

20 produce a stable and reliable value for the United 

21 States dollar. 

22 (7) An unstable dollar slows the growth of the 

23 economy by increasing the cost of capital, increasing 

24 the risks attendant to long-term capital investment, 


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1 and increasing the effective rate of the corporate in2 come tax. 

3 (8) An unstable dollar reduces the real earnings 

4 of American workers. 

5 (9) An unstable dollar reduces the real value of 

6 financial assets held by the public. 

7 (10) An unstable dollar reduces the real value 

8 of pension plans and retirement accounts upon 

9 which Americans depend for their security. 

10 (11) An unstable dollar damages the economic 

11 and political standing of the United States in the 

12 world community. 

13 (12) An unstable dollar gives rise to anxiety, 

14 uncertainty, and risk among the financial markets 

15 and the public. 

16 SEC. 3. DIRECTIVES TO THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF 

17 THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Before the end of the 90-day pe19 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, 

20 the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 

21 shall make the value of the U.S. dollar equal to the market 

22 value of 0.002 of a troy ounce of gold and maintain the 

23 value of the United States dollar at this level. 


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1 (b) TARGET.—In regulating the value of the United 

2 States dollar, the Board of Governors of the Federal Re3 serve System shall— 

4 (1) conduct open market operations against an 

5 explicit target for the price of gold on the exchange 

6 operated by the Commodities Exchange, Inc. 

7 (COMEX) of the New York Mercantile Exchange, 

8 Inc.; and 

9 (2) shall not conduct open market operations 

10 indirectly, as in the current practice of targeting the 

11 Federal Funds rate. 

12 (c) PROMOTION OF STABLE AND EFFECTIVE FINAN13 CIAL MARKETS.—The Board of Governors of the Federal 

14 Reserve System shall use the banking and bank regulatory 

15 powers of the Board to maintain and promote stable and 

16 effective financial markets during and after the transition 

17 to a defined value for the United States dollar. 

18 SEC. 4. TAX DEPRECIATION. 

19 Effective January 1, 2009, all entities that depreciate 

20 capital assets for tax purposes shall be entitled to 100 per21 cent expensing of all capital investment for tax purposes 

22 in the year that the investment is made. 


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1 SEC. 5. DIRECTIVE TO THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OF2 FICE. 

3 In addition to the scoring that the Congressional 

4 Budget Office will do of the tax changes provided in this 

5 Act in the normal course of events, the Congressional 

6 Budget Office shall also calculate the impact on Federal 

7 revenues on a present value basis. This calculation shall 

8 be done in the manner that such calculations are done by 

9 the Social Security Trustees, and shall take into account 

10 the following: 

11 (1) That first year expensing of capital invest12 ment accelerates, but does not change the total 

13 amount of the depreciation that taxpayers take 

14 based upon their investments. 

15 (2) Capital investments by businesses have his16 torically earned much higher returns than the inter17 est rate on government bonds. 

18 SEC. 6. CONFLICT OF LAWS PROVISION. 

19 In the event that any provisions of this Act are found 

20 to be in conflict with those of the Full Employment and 

21 Balanced Growth Act of 1978, the provisions of this Act 

22 shall supersede the provisions of such Act to the extent 

23 of the conflict. 

Æ 


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