Federal

Dollar-for-Dollar Deficit Reduction Act

Source: Congress.gov · 1,797 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill requires Congress to cut spending by the same amount any time it increases or suspends the debt limit (the maximum amount the federal government is allowed to borrow). All spending cuts must happen over the next 10 years. The bill is called the Dollar-for-Dollar Deficit Reduction Act.

Who It Affects

The Treasury Secretary, Congress (both Senate and House), the Congressional Budget Office, the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Key Provisions

• When the Treasury Secretary determines the government will hit the debt limit within 60 days, the Secretary must issue a warning to Congress about when extraordinary measures (special financial actions to keep the government running) may be needed (Sec. 2). • Any request from the President to increase the debt limit must include a plan to cut spending by at least the same amount over the current and next 10 years, and interest savings cannot count toward these required cuts (Sec. 2). • Congress cannot vote on any bill to increase the debt limit unless the bill includes equal or greater spending cuts over 10 years, and any spending cuts must be verified by the Congressional Budget Office against a specific budget baseline that excludes emergency spending (Sec. 3). • Congress cannot vote on any bill that suspends the debt limit unless the bill includes spending cuts equal to the projected debt increase during the suspension period (Sec. 3). • Before Congress votes on raising or suspending the debt limit, the Congressional Budget Office's cost estimate must be publicly available for at least 24 hours (Sec. 3). • In the Senate, three-fifths of members can waive or override these spending-cut requirements (Sec. 3).

What Changes

A new rule is added to federal law that blocks Congress from raising or suspending the debt limit unless an equal amount of spending cuts is included in the same bill over 10 years. Spending cuts cannot include interest savings, and cannot shift costs to years outside the 10-year window. The Treasury Secretary must warn Congress earlier when the debt limit is approaching.

Important Definitions

• "Extraordinary measures": Special financial actions the Treasury Secretary can take when the debt limit is reached to keep the government functioning without increasing the debt limit. • "Near breach": The point when the Treasury Secretary determines the government will reach the debt limit within 60 calendar days, even with extraordinary measures in place.

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 714 To require that any debt limit increase or suspension be balanced by equal spending cuts over the next decade. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 8, 2023 Mr. BARRASSO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget A BILL To require that any debt limit increase or suspension be balanced by equal spending cuts over the next decade. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dollar-for-Dollar Def- 4 icit Reduction Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 31. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 31 of title 7 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after sec- 8 tion 3101A the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S714.IS S714 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 714 IS ‘‘§ 3101B. Debt limit control 1 ‘‘(a) DECLARATION OF A DEBT LIMIT WARNING.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the event of a near 3 breach of the public debt limit established by section 4 3101, the Secretary of the Treasury shall issue a 5 debt limit warning to the Committee on Finance of 6 the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means 7 of the House of Representatives that shall include a 8 determination as to when extraordinary measures 9 may be necessary in order to prolong the funding of 10 the United States Government. 11 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 12 ‘‘(A) EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES.—The 13 term ‘extraordinary measures’ means measures 14 that may be taken by the Secretary of the 15 Treasury in the event of a breach of the debt 16 limit by the United States to prolong the func- 17 tion of the United States Government in the ab- 18 sence of a debt limit increase. 19 ‘‘(B) NEAR BREACH.—The term ‘near 20 breach’ means the point at which the Secretary 21 of the Treasury determines that the United 22 States Government will reach the statutorily 23 prescribed debt limit within 60 calendar days 24 notwithstanding the implementation of extraor- 25 dinary measures. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S714.IS S714 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 714 IS ‘‘(b) PRESIDENTIAL SUBMISSION OF DEBT LIMIT 1 LEGISLATION.— 2 ‘‘(1) SAVINGS RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE 3 PRESIDENT.—Any formal Presidential request to in- 4 crease the debt limit under this section shall include 5 the amount of the proposed debt limit increase and 6 be accompanied by proposed legislation to reduce 7 spending over the sum of the current and following 8 10 years by an amount equal to or greater than the 9 amount of the requested debt limit increase. Net in- 10 terest savings may not be counted towards spending 11 reductions required by this paragraph. 12 ‘‘(2) CALCULATION.—The spending savings 13 under paragraph (1) shall be calculated against a 14 budget baseline consistent with section 257 of the 15 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 16 Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 907). This baseline shall ex- 17 clude the extrapolation of any spending that had 18 been enacted under an emergency designation.’’. 19 (b) SUBCHAPTER ANALYSIS.—The table of sections 20 for chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, is amended 21 by inserting after the item for section 3101A the following: 22 ‘‘3101B. Debt limit control.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S714.IS S714 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 714 IS SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL REQUIREMENT TO RESTRAIN 1 SPENDING WHILE RAISING OR SUSPENDING 2 THE DEBT LIMIT. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Congressional 4 Budget Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 631 5 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 316. DEBT LIMIT INCREASE POINT OF ORDER. 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 8 ‘‘(1) POINT OF ORDER.—Except as provided in 9 subsection (b), it shall not be in order in the Senate 10 or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, 11 joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference 12 report that increases the statutory debt limit unless 13 the bill contains net spending reductions of an equal 14 or greater amount over the period of the current and 15 next 10 fiscal years. Net interest savings may not be 16 counted towards spending reductions required by 17 this paragraph. 18 ‘‘(2) COMPONENTS OF NET SPENDING REDUC- 19 TION.— 20 ‘‘(A) CALCULATION.—The savings result- 21 ing from the proposed spending reductions 22 under paragraph (1) shall be calculated by the 23 Congressional Budget Office against a budget 24 baseline consistent with section 257 of the Bal- 25 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S714.IS S714 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 714 IS Act of 1985. This baseline shall exclude the ex- 1 trapolation of any spending that had been en- 2 acted under an emergency designation. 3 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY.—The Senate and the 4 House of Representatives may not vote on any 5 bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or 6 conference report that increases the public debt 7 limit unless the cost estimate of that measure 8 prepared by the Congressional Budget Office 9 has been publicly available on the website of the 10 Congressional Budget Office for at least 24 11 hours. 12 ‘‘(C) PROHIBIT TIMING SHIFTS.—Any pro- 13 vision that shifts outlays or revenues from with- 14 in the 10-year window to outside the window 15 shall not count towards the budget savings tar- 16 get for purposes of this subsection. 17 ‘‘(b) SENATE SUPERMAJORITY WAIVER AND AP- 18 PEAL.— 19 ‘‘(1) WAIVER.—In the Senate, subsection (a)(1) 20 may be waived or suspended only by an affirmative 21 vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and 22 sworn. 23 ‘‘(2) APPEAL.—An affirmative vote of three- 24 fifths of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S714.IS S714 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 714 IS sworn, shall be required to sustain an appeal of the 1 ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under 2 subsection (a)(1). 3 ‘‘SEC. 317. DEBT LIMIT SUSPENSION POINT OF ORDER. 4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 5 ‘‘(1) POINT OF ORDER.—Except as provided in 6 subsection (b), it shall not be in order in the Senate 7 or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, 8 joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference 9 report that suspends the statutory debt limit unless 10 the bill contains net spending reductions over the pe- 11 riod of the current and next 10 fiscal years in an 12 amount that is equal to or greater than the pro- 13 jected debt amount for the period of the suspension 14 of the statutory debt limit as determined by the 15 Congressional Budget Office in accordance with 16 paragraph (3). Net interest savings may not be 17 counted towards spending reductions required by 18 this paragraph. 19 ‘‘(2) COMPONENTS OF NET SPENDING REDUC- 20 TION.— 21 ‘‘(A) CALCULATION.—The savings result- 22 ing from the proposed spending reductions 23 under paragraph (1) shall be calculated by the 24 Congressional Budget Office against a budget 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S714.IS S714 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 714 IS baseline consistent with section 257 of the Bal- 1 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 2 Act of 1985. This baseline shall exclude the ex- 3 trapolation of any spending that had been en- 4 acted under an emergency designation. 5 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY.—The Senate and the 6 House of Representatives may not vote on any 7 bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or 8 conference report that increases the public debt 9 limit unless the cost estimate of that measure 10 prepared by the Congressional Budget Office 11 has been publicly available on the website of the 12 Congressional Budget Office for at least 24 13 hours. 14 ‘‘(C) PROHIBIT TIMING SHIFTS.—Any pro- 15 vision that shifts outlays or revenues from with- 16 in the 10-year window to outside the window 17 shall not count towards the budget savings tar- 18 get for purposes of this subsection. 19 ‘‘(3) CALCULATION OF PROJECTED DEBT 20 AMOUNT.—For purposes of paragraph (1), the Con- 21 gressional Budget Office shall determine the amount 22 of projected debt for the period for which the bill, 23 joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S714.IS S714 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 714 IS report suspends the statutory debt limit by calcu- 1 lating the difference between— 2 ‘‘(A) the amount the statutory debt is pro- 3 jected to be on the date on which the suspen- 4 sion of the statutory debt limit is to end, as de- 5 termined by the debt projection of the Congres- 6 sional Budget Office, and 7 ‘‘(B) the amount of statutory debt as of 8 the date on which the suspension of the statu- 9 tory debt limit is to begin. 10 ‘‘(b) SENATE SUPERMAJORITY WAIVER AND AP- 11 PEAL.— 12 ‘‘(1) WAIVER.—In the Senate, subsection (a)(1) 13 may be waived or suspended only by an affirmative 14 vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and 15 sworn. 16 ‘‘(2) APPEAL.—An affirmative vote of three- 17 fifths of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and 18 sworn, shall be required to sustain an appeal of the 19 ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under 20 subsection (a)(1).’’. 21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 22 tents set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget 23 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by in- 24 serting after section 315 the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S714.IS S714 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 714 IS ‘‘Sec. 316. Debt limit increase point of order. ‘‘Sec. 317. Debt limit suspension point of order.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S714.IS S714 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

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