[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 563 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 563

To encourage Members of Congress and the executive branch to be honest 
  with the public about true on-budget circumstances, to exclude the 
Social Security trust funds from the annual Federal budget baseline, to 
 prohibit Social Security trust funds surpluses to be used as offsets 
for tax cuts or spending increases, and to exclude the Social Security 
    trust funds from official budget surplus/deficit pronouncements.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 1999

   Mr. Smith of Washington 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 encourage Members of Congress and the executive branch to be honest 
  with the public about true on-budget circumstances, to exclude the 
Social Security trust funds from the annual Federal budget baseline, to 
 prohibit Social Security trust funds surpluses to be used as offsets 
for tax cuts or spending increases, and to exclude the Social Security 
    trust funds from official budget surplus/deficit pronouncements.

    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 ``Honesty in Budgeting Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF HOUSE TO ENCOURAGE HONESTY FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND 
              EXECUTIVE BRANCH OFFICIALS.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that Members of 
Congress, executive branch officials, and their respective 
representatives should use on-budget numbers when making public 
statements regarding the Federal budget.

SEC. 3. OFF-BUDGET STATUS OF OASDI TRUST FUNDS.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the receipts and 
disbursements of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund 
and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund shall not be counted as 
new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for 
purposes of--
            (1) the budget of the United States Government as submitted 
        by the President,
            (2) the congressional budget, or
            (3) the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act 
        of 1985.

SEC. 4. REMOVING SOCIAL SECURITY FROM BUDGET SURPLUS/DEFICIT 
              PRONOUNCEMENTS.

    (a) Removing Social Security From Budget Surplus/Deficit 
Pronouncements.--Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is 
amended by adding at the end the following section:

 ``removing social security from budget surplus/deficit pronouncements

    ``Sec. 316. (a) Surplus or Deficit Totals.--Any official statement 
issues by the Office of Management and Budget or by the Congressional 
Budget Office of surplus or deficit totals of the budget of the United 
States Government as submitted by the President or of the surplus or 
deficit totals of the congressional budget, and any description of, or 
reference to, such totals in any official publication or material 
issued by either of such Offices, shall exclude the receipts and 
disbursements totals of the old-age survivors, and disability insurance 
program under title 2 of the Social Security Act. The Office of 
Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office shall issue 
separate reports on the outlays and revenues of the Social Security 
trust funds.
    (b) Presentation of Budgetary Aggregates.--For purposes of chapter 
11 of title 31, United States Code, or the Congressional Budget Act of 
1974, tables and other displays of budgetary aggregates for the United 
States Government of the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget or the Director of the Congressional Budget Office shall not 
include receipts or disbursements referred to in subsection (a).
    (c) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents set forth in 
section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 
1974 is amended by adding after the item relating to section 315 the 
following new item:

``Sec. 316. Removing Social Security from budget surplus/deficit 
                            pronouncements.''.
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