I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 181

To provide off-budget treatment for the Inland Waterways Trust Fund and

the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 3, 2001

Mr. SHUSTER (for himself, Mr. OBERSTAR, and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 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 provide off-budget treatment for the Inland Waterways

Trust Fund and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.

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 ‘‘Truth in Water Trans5 portation Budgeting Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. BUDGETARY TREATMENT OF INLAND WATERWAYS

2 TRUST FUND AND HARBOR MAINTENANCE

3 TRUST FUND.

4 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the re5 ceipts and disbursements of the Inland Waterways Trust

6 Fund and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund—

7 (1) shall not be counted as new budget author8 ity, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for pur9 poses of—

10 (A) the budget of the United States Gov11 ernment as submitted by the President,

12 (B) the congressional budget (including al13 locations of budget authority and outlays pro14 vided therein), or

15 (C) the Balanced Budget and Emergency

16 Deficit Control Act of 1985; and

17 (2) shall be exempt from any general budget

18 limitation imposed by statute on expenditures and

19 net lending (budget outlays) of the United States

20 Government.

21 SEC. 3. SAFEGUARDS AGAINST DEFICIT SPENDING OUT OF

22 THE INLAND WATERWAYS TRUST FUND AND

23 HARBOR MAINTENANCE TRUST FUND.

24 (a) ESTIMATES OF UNFUNDED INLAND WATERWAYS

25 AUTHORIZATIONS AND NET INLAND WATERWAYS RE26 CEIPTS.—Not later than March 31 of each year, the Sec-
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1 retary of the Army, in consultation with the Secretary of

2 the Treasury, shall estimate—

3 (1) the amount which would (but for this sec4 tion) be the unfunded inland waterways authoriza5 tions and unfunded harbor maintenance authoriza6 tions at the close of the first fiscal year that begins

7 after that March 31; and

8 (2) the net inland waterways receipts and net

9 harbor maintenance receipts at the close of such fis10 cal year.

11 (b) PROCEDURE IF EXCESS UNFUNDED INLAND

12 WATERWAYS AUTHORIZATIONS.—If the Secretary of the

13 Army determines with respect to the Inland Waterways

14 Trust Fund or the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for

15 any fiscal year that the amount described in subsection

16 (a)(1) exceeds the amount described in subsection (a)(2),

17 the Secretary shall determine the amount of such excess.

18 (c) ADJUSTMENT OF AUTHORIZATIONS IF UN19 FUNDED AUTHORIZATIONS EXCEED RECEIPTS.—

20 (1) DETERMINATION OF PERCENTAGE.—If the

21 Secretary of the Army determines that there is an

22 excess referred to in subsection (b) for a fiscal year,

23 the Secretary of the Army shall determine the per24 centage which—

25 (A) such excess, is of
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1 (B) the total of the amounts authorized to

2 be appropriated from the Inland Waterways

3 Trust Fund or the Harbor Maintenance Trust

4 Fund, as the case may be, for the next fiscal

5 year.

6 (2) ADJUSTMENT OF AUTHORIZATIONS.—If the

7 Secretary of the Army determines a percentage

8 under paragraph (1), each amount authorized to be

9 appropriated from the Trust Fund for the next fiscal

10 year shall be reduced by such percentage.

11 (d) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS PREVIOUSLY WITH12 HELD.—If, after an adjustment has been made under sub13 section (c)(2), the Secretary of the Army determines with

14 respect to the Inland Waterways Trust Fund or the Har15 bor Maintenance Trust Fund that the amount described

16 in subsection (a)(1) does not exceed the amount described

17 in subsection (a)(2) or that the excess referred to in sub18 section (b) with respect to the Trust Fund is less than

19 the amount previously determined, each amount author20 ized to be appropriated that was reduced under subsection

21 (c)(2) with respect to the Trust Fund shall be increased,

22 by an equal percentage, to the extent the Secretary of the

23 Army determines that it may be so increased without caus24 ing the amount described in subsection (a)(1) to exceed

25 with respect to the Trust Fund the amount described in
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1 subsection (a)(2) (but not by more than the amount of

2 the reduction).

3 (e) REPORTS.—Any estimate under subsection (a)

4 and any determination under subsection (b), (c), or (d)

5 shall be reported by the Secretary of the Army to Con6 gress.

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

8 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions

9 apply:

10 (1) HARBOR MAINTENANCE TRUST FUND.—The

11 term ‘‘Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund’’ means the

12 Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund established by sec13 tion 9505 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

14 (2) INLAND WATERWAYS TRUST FUND.—The

15 term ‘‘Inland Waterways Trust Fund’’ means the

16 Inland Waterways Trust Fund established by section

17 9506 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

18 (3) NET HARBOR MAINTENANCE RECEIPTS.—

19 The term ‘‘net harbor maintenance receipts’’ means,

20 with respect to any period, the receipts (including in21 terest) of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund dur22 ing such period.

23 (4) NET INLAND WATERWAYS RECEIPTS.—The

24 term ‘‘net inland waterways receipts’’ means, with

25 respect to any period, the receipts (including inter-
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1 est) of the Inland Waterways Trust Fund during

2 such period.

3 (5) UNFUNDED INLAND WATERWAYS AUTHOR4 IZATIONS.—The term ‘‘unfunded inland waterways

5 authorizations’’ means, at any time, the excess (if

6 any) of—

7 (A) the total amount authorized to be ap8 propriated from the Inland Waterways Trust

9 Fund which has not been appropriated, over

10 (B) the amount available in the Inland

11 Waterways Trust Fund at such time to make

12 such appropriations.

13 (6) UNFUNDED HARBOR MAINTENANCE AU14 THORIZATIONS.—The term ‘‘unfunded harbor main15 tenance authorizations’’ means, at any time, the ex16 cess (if any) of—

17 (A) the total amount authorized to be ap18 propriated from the Harbor Maintenance Trust

19 Fund which has not been appropriated, over

20 (B) the amount available in the Harbor

21 Maintenance Trust Fund at such time to make

22 such appropriations.
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1 SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY.

2 This Act shall apply to fiscal years beginning after

3 September 30, 2001.

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