[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 127 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 127

 To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to preserve all budget 
  surpluses until legislation is enacted significantly extending the 
       solvency of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 2003

   Mr. Holt introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, 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 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to preserve all budget 
  surpluses until legislation is enacted significantly extending the 
       solvency of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

    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 Lock-
box Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    It is the purpose of this Act to put social security and Medicare 
solvency first, by prohibiting the use of social security surpluses, 
Medicare surpluses, and any other government surpluses for any purpose 
other than paying down publicly held debt, until legislation is enacted 
significantly extending the solvency of the social security and 
Medicare trust funds.

SEC. 3. SURPLUSES RESERVED UNTIL SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE SOLVENCY 
              LEGISLATION IS   ENACTED.

    (a) In General.--Section 312 of the Congressional Budget Act of 
1974 is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(g) Surpluses Reserved Until Social Security and Medicare 
Solvency Legislation Is Enacted.--
            ``(1) In general.--Until there is both a social security 
        solvency certification and a Medicare solvency certification, 
        it shall not be in order in the House of Representatives or the 
        Senate to consider--
                    ``(A) any concurrent resolution on the budget, or 
                conference report thereon or amendment thereto, that 
                would use any portion of the baseline budget surpluses, 
                or
                    ``(B) any bill, joint resolution, amendment, 
                motion, or conference report if--
                            ``(i) the enactment of that bill or 
                        resolution as reported,
                            ``(ii) the adoption and enactment of that 
                        amendment, or
                            ``(iii) the enactment of that bill or 
                        resolution in the form recommended in that 
                        conference report,
                would use any portion of the baseline budget surpluses.
            ``(2) Baseline budget surpluses.--
                    ``(A) In general.--For purposes of this subsection, 
                the term `baseline budget surplus' means the sum of the 
                on- and off-budget surpluses contained in the most 
                recent baseline budget projections made by the 
                Congressional Budget Office at the beginning of the 
                annual budget cycle and no later than the month of 
                March.
                    ``(B) Baseline budget projection.--For purposes of 
                subparagraph (A), the term `baseline budget projection' 
                means the projection described in section 257 of the 
                Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 
                1985 of current year levels of outlays, receipts, and 
                the surplus or deficit into the budget year and future 
                years; except that outlays for programs subject to 
                discretionary appropriations shall be projected at the 
                lesser of any applicable statutory discretionary limits 
                or the baseline level otherwise defined in such section 
                257. For purposes of this subsection, the baseline 
                budget projection shall include both on-budget and off-
                budget outlays and receipts.
            ``(3) Use of portion of the baseline budget surpluses.--For 
        purposes of this subsection, a portion of the baseline budget 
        surpluses is used if, relative to the baseline budget 
        projection--
                    ``(A) in the case of legislation affecting 
                revenues, any net reduction in revenues in the current 
                year or the budget year, or over the 5 or 10-year 
                estimating periods beginning with the budget year, is 
                not offset by reductions in direct spending,
                    ``(B) in the case of legislation affecting direct 
                spending, any net increase in direct spending in the 
                current year or the budget year, or over such 5 or 10-
                year periods, is not offset by increases in revenues, 
                and
                    ``(C) in the case of an appropriations bill, there 
                is a net increase in discretionary outlays in the 
                current year or the budget year when the discretionary 
                outlays from such bill are added to the discretionary 
                outlays from all previously enacted appropriations 
                bills.
            ``(4) Social security solvency certification.--For purposes 
        of this subsection, the term `social security solvency 
        certification' means a certification by the Board of Trustees 
        of the Social Security Trust Funds that the Federal Old-Age and 
        Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability 
        Insurance Trust Fund are, taken together, in actuarial balance 
        for the 75-year period utilized in the most recent annual 
        report of such Board of Trustees pursuant to section 201(c)(2) 
        of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401(c)(2)).
            ``(5) Medicare solvency certification.--For purposes of 
        this subsection, the term `Medicare solvency certification' 
        means a certification by the Board of Trustees of the Federal 
        Hospital Insurance Trust Fund that such Trust Fund is in 
        actuarial balance for the 30-year period utilized in the most 
        recent annual report of such Board of Trustees pursuant to 
        section 1817(b) of the Social Security Act.''
    (b) Super Majority Requirement.--(1) Section 904(c)(1) of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by inserting ``312(g),'' 
after ``310(d)(2),''.
    (2) Section 904(d)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is 
amended by inserting ``312(g),'' after ``310(d)(2),''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect upon the date of its enactment and the 
amendments made by it shall apply only to fiscal year 2003 and 
subsequent fiscal years.
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