Deal with the Debt Today Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6887 To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to establish a disaster and emergency spending financial offset program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 15, 2020 Mr. CURTIS (for himself, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. BUDD, Mr. EMMER, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. STEWART, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. PERRY, and Mr. WRIGHT) 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 subsequently 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 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Con- trol Act of 1985 to establish a disaster and emergency spending financial offset program, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Deal with the Debt 4 Today Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:09 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6887.IH H6887 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6887 IH SEC. 2. SEQUESTRATIONS TO OFFSET DISASTER AND 1 EMERGENCY SPENDING FOR WHICH AN AD- 2 JUSTMENT IS MADE. 3 (a) OFFSETTING DISASTER AND EMERGENCY 4 SPENDING.—The Balanced Budget and Emergency Def- 5 icit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.) is amended 6 by inserting after section 253 the following: 7 ‘‘SEC. 253A. ESTABLISHING A DISASTER AND EMERGENCY 8 SPENDING FINANCIAL OFFSET PROGRAM. 9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 10 ‘‘(1) DISASTER AND EMERGENCY SPENDING.— 11 The term ‘disaster and emergency spending’ means 12 funding for any fiscal year as described in section 13 251(b)(2)(A) and section 251(b)(2)(D). 14 ‘‘(2) EXCESS DISASTER AND EMERGENCY 15 SPENDING.—The term ‘excess disaster and emer- 16 gency spending’ means any such spending for which 17 an adjustment is made under the sections referred 18 to in paragraph (1) for any fiscal year. 19 ‘‘(3) BASE FISCAL YEAR.—The term ‘base fiscal 20 year’ means any fiscal year in which there is excess 21 disaster and emergency spending. 22 ‘‘(b) SEQUESTRATION.— 23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 24 ‘‘(A) EXCESS DISASTER AND EMERGENCY 25 SPENDING.—Within 15 calendar days after 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:09 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6887.IH H6887 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6887 IH Congress adjourns to end a session there shall 1 be a sequestration to eliminate any excess dis- 2 aster and emergency spending as set forth in 3 subparagraph (B). 4 ‘‘(B) AMOUNTS TO BE SEQUESTERED.— 5 The sequestration resulting from the fiscal year 6 described in subparagraph (A) shall be gov- 7 erned by the following schedule: 8 ‘‘(i) For the third fiscal year begin- 9 ning after a base fiscal year, 5 percent of 10 the total excess disaster and emergency 11 spending occurring in that base fiscal year. 12 ‘‘(ii) For the fourth fiscal year begin- 13 ning after a base fiscal year, 7.5 percent of 14 the total excess disaster and emergency 15 spending occurring in that base fiscal year. 16 ‘‘(iii) For the fifth fiscal year begin- 17 ning after a base fiscal year, 10 percent of 18 the total excess disaster and emergency 19 spending occurring in that base fiscal year. 20 ‘‘(iv) For the sixth fiscal year begin- 21 ning after a base fiscal year, 12.5 percent 22 of the total excess disaster and emergency 23 spending occurring in that base fiscal year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:09 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6887.IH H6887 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6887 IH ‘‘(v) For the seventh fiscal year begin- 1 ning after a base fiscal year, 15 percent of 2 the total excess disaster and emergency 3 spending occurring in that base fiscal year. 4 ‘‘(vi) For the eighth fiscal year begin- 5 ning after a base fiscal year, 15 percent of 6 the total excess disaster and emergency 7 spending occurring in that base fiscal year. 8 ‘‘(vii) For the ninth fiscal year begin- 9 ning after a base fiscal year, 17.5 percent 10 of the total excess disaster and emergency 11 spending occurring in that base fiscal year. 12 ‘‘(viii) For the tenth fiscal year begin- 13 ning after a base fiscal year, 17.5 percent 14 of the total excess disaster and emergency 15 spending occurring in that base fiscal year. 16 ‘‘(2) SEQUESTRATION.— 17 ‘‘(A) CBO PREVIEW REPORT.—On August 18 15 of each calendar year, the Congressional 19 Budget Office shall issue a sequestration pre- 20 view report setting forth the total amount of ex- 21 cess disaster and emergency spending for the 22 fiscal year ending during the calendar year of 23 this report. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:09 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6887.IH H6887 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6887 IH ‘‘(B) OMB PREVIEW REPORT.—On August 1 20 of each calendar year, the Office of Manage- 2 ment and Budget shall issue a sequestration 3 preview report setting forth the total amount of 4 excess disaster and emergency spending for the 5 fiscal year ending during the calendar year of 6 this report. 7 ‘‘(C) FINAL REPORT.—On October 31 of 8 each calendar year, the Office of Management 9 and Budget shall issue a final sequestration re- 10 port equal to the excess, which shall be accom- 11 panied by a Presidential order detailing uniform 12 spending reductions equal to the excess outlay 13 amount. 14 ‘‘(D) PROCESS.—The reductions shall gen- 15 erally follow the process set forth in sections 16 253 and 254, except as provided in this section. 17 ‘‘(c) NO EXEMPT PROGRAMS.—Section 255 and sec- 18 tion 256 shall not apply to this section or any sequestra- 19 tion order issued under this section, except that payments 20 for net interest (budget function 900) shall be exempt 21 from the spending reductions under sequestration. 22 ‘‘(d) LOW GROWTH.—At any time that OMB deter- 23 mines that real economic growth is projected or estimated 24 to be less than zero for any 2 consecutive quarters within 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:09 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6887.IH H6887 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6887 IH a fiscal year, any sequestration order under this section 1 shall be suspended until projected or estimated growth for 2 a quarter is positive.’’. 3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 4 tents set forth in section 250(a) of the Balanced Budget 5 and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended 6 by inserting after the item relating to section 253 the fol- 7 lowing new item: 8 ‘‘253A. Establishing a disaster and emergency spending financial offset pro- gram.’’. SEC. 3. REPEALER. 9 Subsection (g) of section 4 of the Statutory Pay-As- 10 You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)) (relating to emer- 11 gency legislation) is repealed. 12 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 13 The amendments made by section 2 shall apply to 14 fiscal years beginning at least 90 days after the date of 15 enactment of this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:09 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6887.IH H6887 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS