Protect America's Credit Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-3774
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Peters, Scott H. [D-CA-52]
Introduced: 2015-10-20
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Budget deficits and national debt

Congressional oversight

Economic performance and conditions
Latest action: action_date: 2015-10-20
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Summaries:
action_date: 2015-10-20
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Protect America's Credit Act of 2015</b></p> <p>This bill revises the statutory debt limit to: (1) apply the limit only to debt held by the public, and (2) require annual adjustments to the limit to account for increases in the gross domestic product. </p> <p>(Under current law, the debt limit applies to debt held by the public and debt held by government accounts. Debt held by the public consists mainly of securities issued by the Treasury and held by investors. Debt held by the government is debt issued to the federal government's trust funds for programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and military and civil service retirement benefits.) </p>

tv_txt: I 114th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3774 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 20, 2015 Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Cooper ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend title 31, United States Code, to apply the debt limit only to debt held by the public and to adjust the debt limit for increases in the gross domestic product.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Protect America’s Credit Act of 2015 . 2. Modification of debt limit (a) Application of debt limit only to debt held by the public (1) In general Section 3101(b) of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking The face amount of obligations issued under this chapter and the face amount of obligations whose principal and interest are guaranteed by the United States Government (except guaranteed obligations held by the Secretary of the Treasury) and inserting The face amount of obligations issued under this chapter to the public and the face amount of obligations issued to the public whose principal and interest are guaranteed by the United States Government . (2) Debt limit reduced by amount of debt no longer subject to limitation Section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (d) Effective on the date of the enactment of this subsection, the dollar amount in effect under subsection (b) shall be reduced by the excess of— (1) the face amount of obligations issued under this chapter and the face amount of obligations whose principal and interest are guaranteed by the United States Government (except guaranteed obligations held by the Secretary of the Treasury) determined as of the date of the enactment of this subsection, over (2) the face amount of obligations issued under this chapter to the public and the face amount of obligations issued to the public whose principal and interest are guaranteed by the United States Government determined as of such date. . (b) Adjustment of debt limit for increases in the gross domestic product Section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a), is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (e) (1) Effective January 1 of each calender year beginning after 2015, the dollar amount in effect under subsection (b) shall be increased by an amount equal to the product of such amount as in effect as of the close of the preceding calendar year multiplied by the percentage (if any) by which— (A) the Current-Dollar GDP for the third quarter of the preceding calendar year, exceeds (B) the Current-Dollar GDP for the third quarter of the second preceding calendar year. (2) The term Current-Dollar GDP means the current-dollar gross domestic product as computed and published by the Department of Commerce. (3) On or before December 31 of each calendar year after 2016, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit a report to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate which includes— (A) the amount of the increase in the debt limit which will take effect under paragraph (1) on January 1 of the next calendar year, and (B) a description of how each increase in the statutory limit compares to the actual increase in debt. .