[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1768 Referral Instructions Senate (RIS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1768

    To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to protect Social 
     Security surpluses through strengthened budgetary enforcement 
                              mechanisms.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 21, 1999

  Mr. Abraham introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred jointly pursuant to the order of August 4, 1977, to the 
  Committee on the Budget and Governmental Affairs, with instructions 
that if one Committee reports, the other Committee have thirty days to 
                        report or be discharged

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to protect Social 
     Security surpluses through strengthened budgetary enforcement 
                              mechanisms.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This title may be cited as the ``Social Security Surplus 
Preservation and Debt Reduction Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) The $69,246,000,000 unified budget surplus achieved in 
        fiscal year 1998 was entirely due to surpluses generated by the 
        social security trust funds and the cumulative unified budget 
        surpluses projected for subsequent fiscal years are primarily 
        due to surpluses generated by the social security trust funds;
            (2) Congress and the President should balance the budget 
        excluding the surpluses generated by the social security trust 
        funds;
            (3) according to the Congressional Budget Office, balancing 
        the budget excluding the surpluses generated by the social 
        security trust funds will reduce the debt held by the public by 
        a total of $1,859,500,000,000 by the end of fiscal year 2009;
            (4) social security surpluses should be used for social 
        security reform or to reduce the debt held by the public and 
        should not be spent on other programs; and
            (5) if Social Security surpluses are not raided to pay for 
        non-Social Security spending, they will, under current law, be 
        used to reduce the debt held by the public and thereby improve 
        the future viability of the Social Security system.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUNDS.

    (a) Protection by Congress.--
            (1) Reaffirmation of support.--Congress reaffirms its 
        support for the provisions of section 13301 of the Budget 
        Enforcement Act of 1990 that provides that the receipts and 
        disbursements of the social security trust funds shall not be 
        counted for the purposes of the budget submitted by the 
        President, the congressional budget, or the Balanced Budget and 
        Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
            (2) Protection of social security benefits.--If there are 
        sufficient balances in the Federal Old-Age and Survivors 
        Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust 
        Fund, the Secretary of Treasury shall give priority to the 
payment of social security benefits required to be paid by law.
    (b) Points of Order.--Section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(j) Social Security Point of Order.--It shall not be in order in 
the Senate to consider a concurrent resolution on the budget, an 
amendment thereto, or a conference report thereon that violates section 
13301 of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990.
    ``(k) Social Security Surplus Protection Point of Order.--
            ``(1) In general.--It shall not be in order in the Senate 
        to consider a concurrent resolution on the budget, an amendment 
        thereto, or a conference report thereon that sets forth a 
        deficit in any fiscal year.
            ``(2) Exception.--Paragraph (k) shall not apply if the 
        deficit for a fiscal year results solely from the enactment 
        of--
                    ``(A) social security reform legislation, as 
                defined in section 253A(e)(2) of the Balanced Budget 
                and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985; or
                    ``(B) provisions of legislation that are designated 
                as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 
                251(b)(2)(A) or 252(e) of the Balanced Budget and 
                Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.''.
    (c) Supermajority Waiver and Appeal.--Subsections (c)(1) and (d)(2) 
of section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 are amended by 
striking ``305(b)(2),'' and inserting ``301(k), 305(b)(2),''.

SEC 4. PRESIDENT'S BUDGET.

    Section 1105(f) of title 31, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``in a manner consistent'' and inserting ``in compliance''.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON MEDICARE RESERVE FUND.

    (a) Findings.--The Senate finds that--
            (1) the Congressional budget plan has $505,000,000,000 over 
        ten years in unallocated budget surpluses that could be used 
        for long-term medicare reform, other priorities, or debt 
        reduction;
            (2) the Congressional budget resolution for fiscal year 
        2000 already has set aside $90,000,000,000 over ten years 
        through a reserve fund for long-term medicare reform including 
        prescription drug coverage;
            (3) the President estimates that his medicare proposal will 
        cost $46,000,000,000 over 10 years; and
            (4) thus the Congressional budget resolution provides more 
        than adequate resources for medicare reform, including 
        prescription drugs.
    (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that the 
Congressional budget resolution for fiscal year 2000 provides a sound 
framework for allocating resources to medicare to modernize medicare 
benefits, improve the solvency of the program, and improve coverage of 
prescription drugs.
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