[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4694 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4694

To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 
  to require that the size of the public debt be reduced during each 
fiscal year by the amount of the net surplus in the Social Security and 
          Medicare trust funds at the end of that fiscal year.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 20, 2000

Mr. Smith of Michigan introduced the following bill; which was referred 
  to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on 
   Ways and Means, 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 Control Act of 1985 
  to require that the size of the public debt be reduced during each 
fiscal year by the amount of the net surplus in the Social Security and 
          Medicare trust funds at the end of that fiscal year.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Social Security and Medicare Surplus 
Protection Act of 2000''.

SEC. 2. SEQUESTRATION OF FEDERAL SPENDING TO REDUCE THE PUBLIC DEBT.

    (a) Sequestration To Reduce the Public Debt.--Part C of the 
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by 
adding after section 253 the following new section:

``SEC. 253A. SEQUESTRATION TO REDUCE THE PUBLIC DEBT.

    ``(a) Sequestration.--Within 15 days after Congress adjourns to end 
a session, and on the same day as a sequestration (if any) under 
sections 251 and 252, but after any sequestration of budget-year 
budgetary resources required by those sections, there shall be a 
sequestration equivalent to the estimated net surplus in the social 
security and medicare trust funds for the budget year, as estimated by 
the Secretary of the Treasury on September 30 of that year.
    ``(b) Applicability.--Each non-exempt account within a category 
shall be reduced by a dollar amount calculated by multiplying the level 
of budgetary resources in that account at that time by the uniform 
percentage necessary to carry out subsection (a). All obligational 
authority reduced under this section shall be done in a manner that 
makes such reductions permanent.''.
    (b) Reports.--Section 254 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)(1), by inserting ``, and 
        sequestration to reduce the public debt,'';
            (2) in subsection (c), by redesignating paragraph (5) as 
        paragraph (6) and by inserting after paragraph (4) the 
        following new paragraph:
            ``(5) Sequestration to reduce the public debt reports.--The 
        preview reports shall set forth for the budget year estimates 
        for each of the following:
                    ``(A) The net surplus in the social security and 
                medicare trust funds for the budget year, as estimated 
                by the Secretary of the Treasury.
                    ``(B) The amount of reductions required under 
                section 253A.
                    ``(C) The sequestration percentage necessary to 
                achieve the required reduction in accounts under 
                section 253A(b).''; and
            (3) in subsection (f), by redesignating paragraphs (4) and 
        (5) as paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively, and by inserting 
        after paragraph (3) the following new paragraph:
            ``(4) Sequestration to reduce the public debt reports.--The 
        final reports shall contain the net surplus in the social 
        security and medicare trust funds for the budget year, as 
        estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury on September 30.''.
    (c) Definition.--Section 250(c) of the Balanced Budget and 
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by adding at the end 
the following new paragraph:
            ``(20) The term `social security and medicare trust funds' 
        refers to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust 
        Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal 
        Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, and the Federal Supplementary 
        Medical Insurance Trust Fund.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to fiscal year 2001 and each fiscal year thereafter and shall 
cease to have any effect after the earlier of--
            (1) the first fiscal year during which there is no public 
        debt; or
            (2) the fiscal year during which there is enacted 
        legislation which is determined, under Government budgeting and 
        scoring principles, to keep social security and medicare 
        solvent.
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