I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 943 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to require certain additional calculations to be included in the annual financial statement submitted under 

section 331(e) of that title, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2009 

Mrs. BACHMANN (for herself, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. COOPER, Mr. 

KIRK, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. COLE, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. FRANKS

of Arizona, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. 

NEUGEBAUER, Mr. POSEY, Mr. LATTA, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mrs. SCHMIDT, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Ms. FOXX, and Mr. HOEKSTRA) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 

and in addition to the Committee on 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 amend title 31, United States Code, to require certain 

additional calculations to be included in the annual financial statement submitted under section 331(e) of that 

title, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Truth in Accounting 

3 Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PREPARATION OF NET PRESENT VALUE CALCULA5 TION OF MAJOR FISCAL EXPOSURES OF THE 

6 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 331(e) of title 31, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(3) NET PRESENT VALUE CALCULATION AND

11 OTHER CALCULATIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) MATTERS COVERED.—The financial 

13 statement shall include a calculation under poli14 cies in effect during the fiscal year covered by 

15 the statement of the net present value of the 

16 overall fiscal exposures of the United States 

17 Government. The calculation shall include— 

18 ‘‘(i) the outstanding debt held by the 

19 public; 

20 ‘‘(ii) calculations of the net present 

21 value of commitments and receipts of the 

22 Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance 

23 (OASI) Trust Fund, the Federal Disability 

24 Insurance (DI) Trust Fund, the Federal 

25 Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, and 

26 the Federal Supplementary Medical InsurVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:44 Feb 12, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H943.IH H943

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1 ance (SMI) Trust Fund using the most re2 cent available long-term, intermediate pro3 jections by the Trustees of such Trust 

4 Funds of revenues, expenditures, and dis5 count factors, as represented in such an6 nual reports; 

7 ‘‘(iii) calculations of the net present 

8 value of commitments and receipts of the 

9 Railroad Retirement and Black Lung (part 

10 C) programs; and 

11 ‘‘(iv) calculations of the net present 

12 value of commitments and receipts of the 

13 Federal retirement and health insurance 

14 systems, both civil and military. 

15 ‘‘(B) TIME HORIZON.—(i) For each cal16 culation under subparagraph (A), calculations 

17 shall be provided for— 

18 ‘‘(I) a 75-year horizon; and 

19 ‘‘(II) an indefinite time horizon. 

20 ‘‘(ii) For the 75-year horizon under clause 

21 (i)(I), each calculation shall take each year’s 

22 projected expenditures minus revenues, divide 

23 this difference by the projected discount factor 

24 for that year, and add the resulting 75 annual 

25 discounted flows to obtain the program’s net 


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1 present value imbalance. The long-term dis2 count and growth rates used in these calcula3 tions shall be discussed in the financial state4 ment and shall be consistent with those used by 

5 the Department of Treasury and other Govern6 ment agencies with regard to other long-term fi7 nancial calculations. For purposes of the cal8 culations in clauses (ii), (iii), and (iv) of sub9 paragraph (A), revenues shall include payroll 

10 taxes as allocated by law to the respective Trust 

11 Funds (currently the case for OASI, DI, and 

12 HI), participant premiums and State transfer 

13 income (for SMI), general revenue receipts from 

14 the taxation of benefits, as currently allocated 

15 by law to the OASI, DI, and HI Trust Funds, 

16 and funding for the Federal retirement and 

17 health insurance systems, both civil and mili18 tary. For purposes of this calculation, revenues 

19 shall not include interest income on Trust Fund 

20 and transfers of general revenue to SMI, Social 

21 Security, or Medicare. 

22 ‘‘(iii) For the indefinite time horizon under 

23 clause (i)(II), the calculations shall follow the 

24 procedures provided in clause (ii), but shall be 

25 based on extended projections for a number of 


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1 years sufficiently beyond 75 years that would 

2 result in the present value sum increasing by 

3 less than 0.05 percent if an additional year 

4 were added to the projection. 

5 ‘‘(C) GENERATIONAL IMBALANCE CAL6 CULATION.—The financial statement shall in7 clude a program-by-program calculation under 

8 policies in effect during the fiscal year covered 

9 by the statement of the net present value of 

10 benefits and projected benefits to current par11 ticipants of the programs described in clauses 

12 (ii), (iii), and (iv) of subparagraph (A), includ13 ing the present value of projected benefits to 

14 current participants, less the present value of 

15 projected contributions and earmarked taxes 

16 paid by, or on behalf of, current participants 

17 less the current trust fund balances. 

18 ‘‘(D) FISCAL IMBALANCE CALCULATION.— 

19 The financial statement shall include a pro20 gram-by-program calculation under policies in 

21 effect during the fiscal year covered by the 

22 statement of the net present value of benefits 

23 and projected benefits to current and future 

24 participants of the programs described in 

25 clauses (ii), (iii), and (iv) of subparagraph (A), 


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1 including the present value of projected benefits 

2 to current and future participants over the in3 definite horizon, less the present value of pro4 jected contributions and earmarked taxes paid 

5 by, or on behalf of, current and future partici6 pants over the indefinite horizon, less the cur7 rent trust fund balances. 

8 ‘‘(E) PRESENTATION OF PUBLIC DEBT.— 

9 The financial statement shall include the total 

10 amount of outstanding public debt (included in 

11 the statement pursuant to subparagraph 

12 (A)(i)), plus the total amount of fiscal imbal13 ance calculations (included in the statement 

14 pursuant to subparagraph (D)), set forth sepa15 rately by amount of debt per person, per 

16 fulltime worker, and per household. 

17 ‘‘(F) METHODS USED.—The financial 

18 statement shall include the assumptions and de19 tails of the methods used in making the calcula20 tions required under subparagraph (A). It shall 

21 separately identify and provide a detailed de22 scription of the methods and assumptions used 

23 in making projections of tax revenues, pre24 miums, other receipts from all sources, includ25 ing inter-fund transfers and interest income on 


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1 securities held in trust funds, benefit outlays 

2 distinguished by the type of benefit, and admin3 istrative expenses. The financial statement shall 

4 also provide details regarding demographic as5 sumptions (such as fertility, mortality, immigra6 tion, and labor-force participation rates), de7 pendency ratios, and economic assumptions 

8 (such as trust fund interest rates, discount 

9 rates, revenue and benefit growth rates, health10 care expenditure growth rates, productivity 

11 growth rates, and inflation rates). The informa12 tion should include a description of all other in13 termediate steps and variables used and pro14 jected in making the calculations.’’. 

15 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR PRESIDENT TO USE FINAN16 CIAL STATEMENT IN PREPARING BUDGET.— 

17 (1) REQUIREMENT.—In preparing the budget 

18 for the United States Government for submission 

19 under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, 

20 the President shall take into consideration the finan21 cial statement prepared by the Secretary of the 

22 Treasury under section 331(e) of such title, includ23 ing the effect of the overall budget on the 

24 generational imbalance calculation and the fiscal im25 balance calculation required under subparagraphs 


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1 (C) and (D), respectively, of such section, and the 

2 effect of the overall budget on the net present value 

3 of the overall fiscal exposures of the United States 

4 Government. 

5 (2) INCLUSION OF STATEMENT IN BUDGET.— 

6 Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following new 

8 paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(36) A statement describing how the financial 

10 statement prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury 

11 under section 331(e) of this title was considered in 

12 preparing the budget, as required by section 2(b) of 

13 the Truth in Accounting Act of 2009, including a 

14 statement of the effect of the overall budget on the 

15 generational imbalance calculation and the fiscal im16 balance calculation required under subparagraphs 

17 (C) and (D), respectively, of such section, and the 

18 effect of the overall budget on the net present value 

19 of the overall fiscal exposures of the United States 

20 Government.’’. 

21 (c) SECRETARY OF TREASURY TESTIMONY ON FI22 NANCIAL STATEMENT.—Section 331(e) of title 31, United 

23 States Code, is further amended by adding at the end the 

24 following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(4) The Secretary of the Treasury shall testify each 

2 year before Congress on the financial statement for the 

3 preceding fiscal year required by this section, including the 

4 generational imbalance calculation and fiscal imbalance 

5 calculation required under subparagraphs (C) and (D), re6 spectively, of paragraph (3).’’. 

7 (d) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON FINANCIAL

8 CONDITION OF GOVERNMENT.—Section 331(e) of title 31, 

9 United States Code, is further amended by adding at the 

10 end the following new paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(5) The Comptroller General shall testify each year 

12 before Congress upon request. Not later than January 30 

13 of each year, the Comptroller General of the United States 

14 shall submit to Congress a report containing an assess15 ment of the financial condition of the United States Gov16 ernment. The report shall include— 

17 ‘‘(A) an assessment of the generational imbal18 ance calculation and fiscal imbalance calculation re19 quired under paragraph (3); 

20 ‘‘(B) a statement of whether the President met 

21 the requirements of section 2(b) of the Truth in Ac22 counting Act of 2009; 

23 ‘‘(C) the results of the most recent long-term 

24 fiscal model simulation of the Government Account25 ability Office; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) such other fiscal matters the Comptroller 

2 General determines to be significant.’’. 

3 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The information required 

4 under paragraph (3) of section 331(e) of title 31, United 

5 States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall be included 

6 in the first financial statement required under that section 

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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