Honest Government Accounting Act of 2003

Bill: 108-s-1915
Sponsor: Sen. Lieberman, Joseph I. [D-CT]
Introduced: 2003-11-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Accounting
Administrative fees
Appropriations
Armed Forces and National Security
Auditing
Authorization
Budget deficits
Budget reconciliation
Budget resolutions
Budget surpluses
Capital investments
Civil service retirement
Commerce
Congress
Congressional budget
Congressional committees
Congressional reporting requirements
Corporation taxes
Debt limit
Defense budgets
Economic forecasting
Emergency Management
Estate tax
Excise tax
Executive impoundment of appropriated funds
Expedited congressional procedure
Federal advisory bodies
Federal budget process
Federal budgets
Federal employees
Financial statements
Foreign service
Government Operations and Politics
Government spending reductions
Government trust funds
Governmental investigations
Health
House rules and procedure
Income tax
International Affairs
Labor and Employment
Legislation
Legislative amendments
Legislative procedure
Legislative resolutions
Medicaid
Medicare
Military pensions
Off-budget expenditures
Officer personnel
Old age, survivors and disability insurance
Payroll deductions
Planning-programming-budgeting
Public debt
Rescission of appropriated funds
Retired military personnel
Retiree health benefits
Senate rules and procedure
Social Welfare
Strategic planning
Tariff
Tax expenditures
Taxation
Trusts and trustees
Unemployment insurance
User charges
Valuation
Veterans' medical care
Waste in government spending

Summary:
action_date: 2003-11-21
text: 
Honest Government Accounting Act of 2003 - Requires, in a current annual report from the Secretary of the Treasury to the President and Congress on the overall financial position of the U.S. Government, the preparation of a net present value calculation of all major Government liabilities and commitments, including outstanding debt held by the public and all social insurance entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare. Requires each calculation to: (1) be prepared for both a 75-year horizon and an indefinite time horizon; and (2) include the financial and demographic assumptions and details of the methods used in making the calculations.
 
Mandates that if the total of debt held by the public added to the net present value calculation of the overall liabilities and commitments of the Government exceeds 1.25 percent of the present discounted value of all future payrolls no later than September 15, 2005, the President shall submit to Congress and the Commission on Long-Term Government Liabilities and Commitments (established herein) a plan to reduce that percentage to 1.25 or less. Establishes such Commission to make recommendations to the President and Congress for ensuring that such percentage is no greater than 1.25 percent as of September 11, 2011. Requires the President to report to Congress on any legislative recommendations included in the President's budget which have an adverse impact greater than 0.25 percent of the present discounted value of all future payrolls over 75 years or over an indefinite time horizon, as well as a plan to bring the percentage back to 1.25 by September 11, 2011.
 
Amends the Congressional Budget Act to require budget resolutions to include calculations for the immediately preceding fiscal year of the impact of the resolution on the net present value of the Government's overall liabilities and commitments for both the 75-year and indefinite time horizon. Establishes a point of order against legislation that adversely affects the 1.25 percent by 0.25 percent or more. Directs the Secretary to analyze and report to Congress on the methodology and utility of preparing calculations of the net present value of specific provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that defer tax liability or cause long-term revenue effects that are not captured in a cash flow estimate over five or ten years. Bars the use of expedited procedures to enact legislation which has an adverse impact on the budget deficit or reduces the budget surplus.
 
Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to reinstate the &quot;pay-as-you-go&quot; budgetary requirements of such Act. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-11-21
text: Read twice and referred jointly to the Committees on the Budget; Governmental Affairs pursuant to the order of August 4, 1977, with instructions that if one Committee reports, the other Committee have thirty days to report or be discharged.
action_date: 2003-11-21
text: Introduced in Senate