I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5788 
To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to increase awareness 
of accrual and long-term budgeting, and to express the sense of Congress 
that the President’s annual budget submissions should consider accrual 
and long-term budgeting. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 13, 2006 
Mr. COOPER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, 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 com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to increase 
awareness of accrual and long-term budgeting, and to 
express the sense of Congress that the President’s annual 
budget submissions should consider accrual and long- 
term budgeting. 
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 ‘‘Honest Deficit Rec-
ognition Act of 2006’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) accrual accounting is accepted in the busi-
ness community as the most honest and realistic way 
to account for revenues and expenses; 
(2) the budget of the United States Govern-
ment is currently formulated using cash accounting, 
which provides an inaccurate view of the United 
States’ true financial position; 
(3) the coming generational shift in the United 
States creates dire need to reconcile spending and 
tax programs; 
(4) since 1997, the Department of Treasury, in 
cooperation with the Government Accountability Of-
fice, has produced an independently audited state-
ment for the United States Government, which pro-
vides a more accurate view of the financial position 
of the Government than does the current congres-
sional budget resolution; 
(5) the honest deficit for the United States 
Government in fiscal year 2005 was $760 billion, 
over twice the $318 billion cash deficit reported by 
the Office of Management and Budget and the Con-
gressional Budget Office; 
(6) although the cash deficits of the United 
States Government have been widely reported by the 
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Office of Management and Budget and the Congres-
sional Budget Office, the actual net operating cost 
for the each of the past nine fiscal years have been 
as follows: 
(A) 1997: $2.6 billion; 
(B) 1998: $110 billion; 
(C) 1999: ¥$101 billion (surplus); 
(D) 2000: ¥$40 billion (surplus); 
(E) 2001: $515 billion; 
(F) 2002: $365 billion; 
(G) 2003: $668 billion; 
(H) 2004: $616 billion; and 
(I) 2005: $760 billion; 
(7) according to the ‘‘Fiscal Year 2005 Finan-
cial Report of the United States Government’’, the 
total liability of the United States Government, ex-
plicit and implicit, was nearly $50 trillion at the end 
of fiscal year 2005; 
(8) according to the testimony of the Comp-
troller General of the United States Government, 
David Walker, February 15, 2006, before the Com-
mittee on the Budget of the House of Representa-
tives, the total liability of the United States Govern-
ment, explicit and implicit, increased over $3 trillion 
during fiscal year 2005, more than the entire budget 
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of the United States Government for fiscal year 
2007; and 
(9) it is imperative that the congressional budg-
et resolution and the President’s budget request 
both consider these important facts if the United 
States is to stay the world’s strongest nation. 
SEC. 3. RECOGNITION OF HONEST DEFICIT. 
Section 301(e)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (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) information discussing the most re-
cent financial report of the United States Gov-
ernment prepared pursuant to section 331(e)(1) 
of title 31, United States Code, including a 
summary of the net operating cost, net position, 
and long-term liabilities of the Government as 
described in such report.’’. 
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that, in the preparation 
of the annual budget submission under section 1105(a) 
of title 31, United States Code, the President should take 
into account the most recent financial report of the United 
States Government, especially any information regarding 
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the Government’s net operating cost, net position, and 
long-term liabilities, and that the President should include 
a discussion of this information in each such submission. 
Æ 
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