I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 523 

To provide further means of accountability of the United States debt and 

promote fiscal responsibility. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2017 

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

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To provide further means of accountability of the United 

States debt and promote fiscal responsibility. 

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 Transparency 

5 and Accountability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY REPORT TO CON7 GRESS BEFORE REACHING DEBT LIMIT. 

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

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

10 end the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 3131. Report before reaching debt limit 

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

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

4 the Secretary of the Treasury anticipates the public debt 

5 will reach the limit specified under section 3101, as modi6 fied by section 3101A, the Secretary shall appear before 

7 the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep8 resentatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, 

9 to submit the information described under subsection (b). 

10 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE PRE11 SENTED.—In an appearance described under subsection 

12 (a), the Secretary shall submit the following: 

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

14 the public debt, including— 

15 ‘‘(A) the historical levels of the debt, cur16 rent amount and composition of the debt, and 

17 future projections of the debt; 

18 ‘‘(B) the drivers and composition of future 

19 debt; and 

20 ‘‘(C) how, if the debt limit is raised, the 

21 United States will meet debt obligations, includ22 ing principal and interest. 

23 ‘‘(2) STATEMENT OF INTENT.—A detailed ex24 planation of— 

25 ‘‘(A) proposals of the President to reduce 

26 the public debt in the short term (the current 


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1 and following three fiscal years), medium term 

2 (approximately five to nine fiscal years), and 

3 long term (approximately ten to twenty-five fis4 cal years), and proposals of the President to ad5 just the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio; 

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

7 will have on future Government spending, debt 

8 service, and the position of the United States 

9 dollar as the international reserve currency; 

10 ‘‘(C) projections of fiscal health and sus11 tainability of major direct-spending entitlement 

12 programs (including Social Security, Medicare, 

13 and Medicaid); and 

14 ‘‘(D) any extraordinary measures the Sec15 retary intends to take to fund Federal Govern16 ment obligations if the debt limit is not raised, 

17 a projection of how long such extraordinary 

18 measures will fund the Federal Government, 

19 and a projection of the administrative cost of 

20 taking such extraordinary measures. 

21 ‘‘(3) PROGRESS REPORT.— 

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

23 the progress of implementing all proposals of 

24 the President described under subparagraph 

25 (A) of paragraph (2). 


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

2 under this paragraph shall only be submitted if 

3 a Secretary has already appeared at least once 

4 pursuant to this section during any term of of5 fice for a particular President. 

6 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—The Sec7 retary of the Treasury shall place on the homepage of the 

8 Department of the Treasury a link to a webpage that shall 

9 serve as a repository of information made available to the 

10 public for at least 6 months following the date of release 

11 of the relevant information, including: 

12 ‘‘(1) The debt report submitted under sub13 section (b)(1). 

14 ‘‘(2) The detailed explanation submitted under 

15 subsection (b)(2). 

16 ‘‘(3) The progress report submitted under sub17 section (b)(3). 

18 ‘‘(d) EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES DEFINED.—For 

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

20 means each of the following: 

21 ‘‘(1) Directing or approving the issuance of 

22 debt by the Federal Financing Bank for the purpose 

23 of entering into an exchange transaction for debt 

24 that is subject to the limit under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Suspending investments in the Govern2 ment Securities Investment Fund of the Thrift Sav3 ings Fund. 

4 ‘‘(3) Suspending investments in the stabiliza5 tion fund established under section 5302. 

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

7 Service Retirement and Disability Fund or the Post8 al Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund. 

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

10 or other invested assets of the Civil Service Retire11 ment and Disability Fund or the Postal Service Re12 tiree Health Benefits Fund before maturity. 

13 ‘‘(6) Suspending sales of State and Local Gov14 ernment Series Treasury securities. 

15 ‘‘(7) Such other measures as the Secretary de16 termines appropriate.’’. 

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

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

19 by inserting after the item relating to section 3130 the 

20 following: 

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

21 SEC. 3. ACCESS TO CERTAIN TREASURY DEPARTMENT 

22 DATA. 

23 Not later than thirty days after receipt of a written 

24 request from the Chairman of the Committee on Finance 

25 of the Senate or of the Committee on Ways and Means 


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1 of the House of Representatives, but no more than four 

2 times per fiscal year for each, the Secretary of the Treas3 ury shall provide to the requesting Chairman financial and 

4 economic data relevant to determining the amount of the 

5 public debt of the United States, including— 

6 (1) cash flow and debt transaction information 

7 used in preparing the Daily Treasury Statement, in8 cluding current balances, receipts, and payments; 

9 (2) operating cash balance projections; and 

10 (3) relevant information regarding any extraor11 dinary measures (as defined under section 3131(d) 

12 of title 31, United States Code) taken to prevent the 

13 public debt from exceeding the limitation imposed by 

14 section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, as 

15 modified by section 3101A of such title. 

Æ 


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