I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4505
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to retire publicly held debt each
fiscal year, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 19, 2000
Mr. BASS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on the Budget,
and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to retire publicly
held debt each fiscal year, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Debt Reduction and
Control Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. DEBT REDUCTION AND CONTROL SCHEDULE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 31 of title
31 of the United States Code is amended by adding at
the end the following new section:
‘‘§ 3114. Debt reduction and control schedule
‘‘(a) During fiscal year 2002 and each fiscal year
thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall retire pub-
licly-held obligations issued under this chapter as set forth
in subsection (b).
‘‘(b)(1)(A) Except as provided by paragraph (3), dur-
ing any fiscal year referred to in subsection (a), publicly-
held obligations issued under this chapter shall be retired
by an amount not less than $400 billion (as adjusted
under paragraph (2)) minus the estimated net interest on
payments required to be paid during that fiscal year by
the United States Government on such debt obligations.
‘‘(B) The Secretary shall ensure that the retirement
of such debt in any fiscal year produces a net reduction
in the face amount of publicly-held obligations issued or
guaranteed under this chapter by the amount of obliga-
tions retired under subsection (a).
‘‘(2)(A) For fiscal year 2003 and each fiscal year
thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall increase the
amount referred to in paragraph (1)(A) by the percent
(adjusted to the nearest one-tenth of 1 percent) by which
the price index for the base quarter of that fiscal year
exceeds the base index.
‘‘(B) As used in this paragraph:
‘‘(i) The term ‘price index’ means the Con-
sumer Price Index (all items, United States city av-
erage) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
‘‘(ii) The term ‘base quarter’ means the cal-
endar quarter ending on December 31 of each year.
‘‘(iii) The term ‘base index’ means the price
index for the base quarter for the most recent ad-
justment under subparagraph (A) (or, in the case of
fiscal year 2003, the base quarter is the calendar
quarter ending on December 31, 2002).
‘‘(C) For purposes of this paragraph, the price index
for a calendar quarter is the arithmetical mean of the
price index for the 3 months comprising that quarter.
‘‘(3)(A) Except as provided by subparagraph (C), if,
by the close of any fiscal year referred to in subsection
(a), the Secretary of the Treasury determines that the net
reduction in the debt required by this section cannot be
met because—
‘‘(i) appropriations designated as emergency re-
quirements under section 251(b)(2)(A) or any provi-
sion of direct spending or receipts legislation so des-
ignated under section 252(e) of the Balanced Budg-
et and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is en-
acted for the fiscal year in excess of offsets for such
appropriations for that year;
‘‘(ii) mandatory spending during the fiscal year
was in excess of estimates of such spending set forth
in the joint explanatory statement of managers ac-
companying the concurrent resolution on the budget
for the fiscal year; or
‘‘(iii) projected Federal revenues during the fis-
cal year are less than the levels for such revenues as
set forth in such concurrent resolution on the budg-
et;
the Secretary of the Treasury shall reduce the net reduc-
tion in the debt otherwise required by this section by the
amount of the shortfall.
‘‘(B) By October 16 of the calendar year in which
such fiscal year ends, the Secretary of the Treasury shall
submit a report to each House of Congress that sets
forth—
‘‘(i) the basis of the determination made for
that fiscal year pursuant to subparagraph (A);
‘‘(ii) the amount of the shortfall by which the
net reduction in the debt otherwise required by this
section cannot be met; and
‘‘(iii) feasible options for eliminating in the en-
suing fiscal year (or years) the amount of the short-
fall in the net reduction in the debt set forth in this
report under clause (ii) for the fiscal year imme-
diately preceding such ensuing fiscal year.
‘‘(C) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec-
tion, if the Secretary of the Treasury determines for any
fiscal year referred to in subsection (a) that the level of
publicly-held debt obligations at the close of such fiscal
year will be less than $300 billion, the Secretary is not
required to make any further adjustments under this sec-
tion.
‘‘(c) No obligations retired under subsection (a) may
be reissued.
‘‘(d)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
section, this section shall not be effective for any fiscal
year if—
‘‘(A) a declaration of war is in effect; or
‘‘(B) specifically waived by law because the
United States is engaged in military conflict that
causes an imminent and serious military threat to
national security.
‘‘(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec-
tion, this section shall not require obligations issued under
this chapter to be retired for any fiscal year to the extent
that Congress determines, by law, that such obligations
are necessary to cover deficit spending required to meet
outlays under the old-age, survivors, and disability insur-
ance program under title II of the Social Security Act and
the hospital insurance program under title XVIII of such
Act as the result of a shortfall in payroll tax receipts.
‘‘(e) For purposes of this section:
‘‘(1) The term ‘publicly-held obligation’ means
any obligation subject to the public debt limit estab-
lished under section 3101, except any obligation
issued under this chapter directly to a Federal fund.
‘‘(2) The term ‘Federal fund’ means any Fed-
eral trust fund or Government account established
pursuant to Federal law to which the Secretary of
the Treasury has issued or is expressly authorized
by law directly to issue obligations under this chap-
ter in respect of public money, money otherwise re-
quired to be deposited in the Treasury, or amounts
appropriated.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter anal-
ysis of subchapter I of chapter 31 of title 31, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new item:
‘‘3114. Debt reduction and control schedule.’’.
SEC. 3. CHANGE IN FUNCTIONAL CATEGORY 900.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budg-
et shall, in consultation with the Committees on the Budg-
et of the House of Representatives and Senate and the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office, change func-
tional category 900 (net interest) to functional category
900 (net interest; debt reduction and control) to clearly
display net interest and the net debt reduction required
by section 3114 of title 31, United States Code, for each
applicable fiscal year.
SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
(a) REPORTS ACCOMPANYING BUDGET RESOLU-
TIONS.—Section 301(e)(2) of the Congressional Budget
Act of 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of
subparagraph (E), by striking the period and inserting ‘‘;
and’’ at the end of subparagraph (F), and by adding at
the end the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(G) an estimate of the amount of debt ob-
ligations required to be retired for the first fis-
cal year of the resolution under section 3114 of
title 31, United States Code, indicating the
amount of this required debt retirement to be
retired through on-budget direct spending and
the amount (if any) of this required debt retire-
ment expected to be retired through the pro-
jected off-budget surplus for that fiscal year.’’.
(b) JOINT
EXPLANATORY
STATEMENTS
ACCOM-
PANYING CONFERENCE REPORTS ON BUDGET RESOLU-
TIONS.—Section 308 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974 is amended by adding at the end the following new
subsection:
‘‘(d) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT
FOR JOINT EX-
PLANATORY STATEMENTS.—The joint explanatory state-
ment accompanying a conference report on a concurrent
resolution on the budget shall include an estimate of the
amount of debt obligations required to be retired for the
first fiscal year of the resolution under section 3114 of
title 31, United States Code, indicating the amount of this
required debt retirement to be retired through on-budget
direct spending and the amount (if any) of this required
debt retirement expected to be retired through the pro-
jected off-budget surplus for that fiscal year.’’.
(c) CBO REPORTS TO BUDGET COMMITTEES.—Sec-
tion 202(e)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974
is amended by adding at the end the following new sen-
tence: ‘‘Such report shall also include an estimate of the
amount of debt obligations required to be retired for such
fiscal year under section 3114 of title 31, United States
Code.’’.
(d) PRESIDENTS’ BUDGET SUBMISSIONS TO CON-
GRESS.—Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code,
is amended by adding at the end the following new para-
graph: