I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1927
To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to preserve all budget
surpluses until legislation is enacted significantly extending the solvency
of the social security and Medicare trust funds.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 25, 1999
Mr. HOLT (for himself, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, and Mr. MOORE) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget,
and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subse-
quently 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 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to preserve
all budget surpluses until legislation is enacted signifi-
cantly extending the solvency of the social security and
Medicare trust funds.
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 ‘‘Social Security and
Medicare Lock-box Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
It is the purpose of this Act to put social security
and Medicare solvency first, by prohibiting the use of so-
cial security surpluses, Medicare surpluses, and any other
government surpluses for any purpose other than paying
down publicly held debt, until legislation is enacted signifi-
cantly extending the solvency of the social security and
Medicare trust funds.
SEC. 3. SURPLUSES RESERVED UNTIL SOCIAL SECURITY
AND MEDICARE SOLVENCY LEGISLATION IS
ENACTED.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 312 of the Congressional
Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the
following new subsection:
‘‘(g) SURPLUSES RESERVED UNTIL SOCIAL SECU-
RITY AND MEDICARE SOLVENCY LEGISLATION IS EN-
ACTED.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Until there is both a social
security solvency certification and a Medicare sol-
vency certification, it shall not be in order in the
House 
of 
Representatives 
or 
the 
Senate 
to
consider—
‘‘(A) any concurrent resolution on the
budget, or conference report thereon or amend-
ment thereto, that would use any portion of the
baseline budget surpluses, or
‘‘(B) any bill, joint resolution, amendment,
motion, or conference report if—
‘‘(i) the enactment of that bill or reso-
lution as reported,
‘‘(ii) the adoption and enactment of
that amendment, or
‘‘(iii) the enactment of that bill or res-
olution in the form recommended in that
conference report,
would use any portion of the baseline budget
surpluses.
‘‘(2) BASELINE BUDGET SURPLUSES.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this
subsection, the term ‘baseline budget surplus’
means the sum of the on- and off-budget sur-
pluses contained in the most recent baseline
budget projections made by the Congressional
Budget Office at the beginning of the annual
budget cycle and no later than the month of
March.
‘‘(B) BASELINE
BUDGET
PROJECTION.—
For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term
‘baseline budget projection’ means the projec-
tion described in section 257 of the Balanced
Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of
1985 of current year levels of outlays, receipts,
and the surplus or deficit into the budget year
and future years; except that outlays for pro-
grams subject to discretionary appropriations
shall be projected at the lesser of any applicable
statutory discretionary limits or the baseline
level otherwise defined in such section 257. For
purposes of this subsection, the baseline budget
projection shall include both on-budget and off-
budget outlays and receipts.
‘‘(3) USE
OF
PORTION
OF
THE
BASELINE
BUDGET
SURPLUSES.—For purposes of this sub-
section, a portion of the baseline budget surpluses is
used if, relative to the baseline budget projection—
‘‘(A) in the case of legislation affecting
revenues, any net reduction in revenues in the
current year or the budget year, or over the 5
or 10-year estimating periods beginning with
the budget year, is not offset by reductions in
direct spending,
‘‘(B) in the case of legislation affecting di-
rect spending, any net increase in direct spend-
ing in the current year or the budget year, or
over such 5 or 10-year periods, is not offset by
increases in revenues, and
‘‘(C) in the case of an appropriations bill,
there is a net increase in discretionary outlays
in the current year or the budget year when the
discretionary outlays from such bill are added
to the discretionary outlays from all previously
enacted appropriations bills.
‘‘(4) SOCIAL
SECURITY
SOLVENCY
CERTIFI-
CATION.—For purposes of this subsection, the term
‘social security solvency certification’ means a cer-
tification by the Board of Trustees of the Social Se-
curity Trust Funds that the Federal Old-Age and
Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal
Disability Insurance Trust Fund are, taken to-
gether, in actuarial balance for the 75-year period
utilized in the most recent annual report of such
Board of Trustees pursuant to section 201(c)(2) of
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401(c)(2)).
‘‘(5) MEDICARE
SOLVENCY
CERTIFICATION.—
For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘Medicare
solvency certification’ means a certification by the
Board of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance
Trust Fund that such Trust Fund is in actuarial
balance for the 30-year period utilized in the most
recent annual report of such Board of Trustees pur-
suant to section 1817(b) of the Social Security Act.’’
(b) SUPER MAJORITY REQUIREMENT.—(1) Section
904(c)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is
amended by inserting ‘‘312(g),’’ after ‘‘310(d)(2),’’.
(2) Section 904(d)(2) of the Congressional Budget
Act of 1974 is amended by inserting ‘‘312(g),’’ after
‘‘310(d)(2),’’.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect upon the date of its enact-
ment and the amendments made by it shall apply only to
fiscal year 2000 and subsequent fiscal years.
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