[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1713 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1713

    To establish a timely and expeditious process for voting on the 
                         statutory debt limit.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 13, 2011

  Mrs. Boxer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To establish a timely and expeditious process for voting on the 
                         statutory debt limit.

    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 ``U.S.A. AAA Credit Restoration Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 31.

    Section 3101(b) of title 31, United States Code, is amended to read 
as follows:
    ``(b) Limit.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, the face amount of obligations issued under this chapter 
        and the face amount of obligations whose principal and interest 
        are guaranteed by the United States Government (except 
        guaranteed obligations held by the Secretary of the Treasury) 
        may not be more than an amount determined by the Secretary, as 
        provided by this section.
            ``(2) Secretarial message.--
                    ``(A) Timing.--On the same day the President 
                submits a budget to Congress as required by section 
                1105 the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a 
                message on the public debt limit.
                    ``(B) Contents.--The message shall include an 
                estimate of the amount the public debt limit will need 
                to be increased, if necessary, for the period of time 
                between the submission of the current Secretarial 
                message and the Secretarial message that will be 
                submitted the following year, as required by 
                subparagraph (A), based on estimates of Federal 
                revenues, mandatory expenditures, and discretionary 
                expenditures.
            ``(3) Federal register notice.--On the same day the 
        Secretary submits the message described in paragraph (2), the 
        Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register the amount of 
        the public debt limit that would be necessary to accommodate 
        the requirements described in paragraph (2)(B).
            ``(4) Congressional disapproval process.--
                    ``(A) Joint resolution.--For purposes of this 
                section, the term `joint resolution' means only a joint 
                resolution introduced in the period beginning on the 
                date on which the notice described in paragraph (3) is 
                published in the Federal Register and ending 3 days 
                thereafter (excluding days either House of Congress is 
                adjourned for more than 3 days during a session of 
                Congress), the matter after the resolving clause of 
                which is as follows: `That Congress disapproves of the 
                Secretary's exercise of authority to increase the debt 
                limit, as exercised pursuant to the certification under 
                section 3101(b) of title 31, United States Code.'.
                    ``(B) Expedited consideration in house of 
                representatives.--
                            ``(i) Reconvening.--Upon publication of the 
                        Federal Register notice described in paragraph 
                        (3) the Speaker, if the House would otherwise 
                        be adjourned, shall notify the Members of the 
                        House that, pursuant to this subsection, the 
                        House shall convene not later than the second 
                        calendar day after receipt of such 
                        certification.
                            ``(ii) Reporting and discharge.--If the 
                        committee to which is referred a joint 
                        resolution described in subparagraph (A) has 
                        not reported such joint resolution at the end 
                        of 6 calendar days after the publication of the 
                        Federal Register notice described in paragraph 
                        (3), such committee may be discharged from 
                        further consideration of such joint resolution 
                        upon a petition supported in writing by 218 
                        Members of the House of Representatives, and 
                        such joint resolution shall be placed on the 
                        calendar.
                            ``(iii) Timing.--A petition to discharge 
                        the joint resolution must be filed no later 
                        than 6 calendar days after the publication of 
                        the Federal Register notice described in 
                        paragraph (3).
                            ``(iv) Proceeding to consideration.--After 
                        each committee authorized to consider a joint 
                        resolution reports it to the House or has been 
                        discharged from its consideration, it shall be 
                        in order, not later than the 3 calendar days 
                        after the joint resolution under subparagraph 
                        (A) is reported or discharged, to move to 
                        proceed to consider the joint resolution in the 
                        House. All points of order against the motion 
                        are waived. Such a motion shall not be in order 
                        after the House has disposed of a motion to 
                        proceed on a joint resolution addressing a 
                        particular submission. The previous question 
                        shall be considered as ordered on the motion to 
                        its adoption without intervening motion. The 
                        motion shall not be debatable. A motion to 
                        reconsider the vote by which the motion is 
                        disposed of shall not be in order.
                            ``(v) Consideration.--The joint resolution 
                        shall be considered as read. All points of 
                        order against the joint resolution and against 
                        its consideration are waived. The previous 
                        question shall be considered as ordered on the 
                        joint resolution to its passage without 
                        intervening motion except two hours of debate 
                        equally divided and controlled by the proponent 
                        and an opponent. A motion to reconsider the 
                        vote on passage of the joint resolution shall 
                        not be in order.
                    ``(C) Expedited procedure in the senate.--
                            ``(i) Reconvening.--Upon publication of the 
                        Federal Register notice described in paragraph 
                        (3), if the Senate has adjourned or recessed 
                        for more than 2 days, the majority leader of 
                        the Senate, after consultation with the 
                        minority leader of the Senate, shall notify the 
                        Members of the Senate that, pursuant to this 
                        section, the Senate shall convene not later 
                        than the second calendar day after publication 
                        of such notice.
                            ``(ii) Reporting and discharge.--If the 
                        committee to which is referred a joint 
                        resolution described in subparagraph (A) has 
                        not reported such joint resolution at the end 
                        of 6 calendar days after the publication of 
                        Federal Register notice described in paragraph 
                        (3), such committee may be discharged from 
                        further consideration of such joint resolution 
                        upon a petition supported in writing by 40 
                        Members of the Senate, and such joint 
                        resolution shall be placed on the calendar.
                            ``(iii) Timing.--A petition to discharge 
                        the joint resolution must be filed no later 
                        than 6 calendar days after the publication of 
                        the Federal Register notice described in 
                        paragraph (3).
                            ``(iv) Proceeding to consideration.--When 
                        the committee to which a joint resolution 
                        described in subparagraph (A) is referred has 
                        reported, or when a committee is discharged, it 
                        is at any time thereafter in order for a motion 
                        to proceed to the consideration of the joint 
                        resolution, and all points of order against the 
                        joint resolution (and against consideration of 
                        the joint resolution) are waived. The motion is 
                        not subject to amendment, or to a motion to 
                        postpone, or to a motion to proceed to the 
                        consideration of other business. A motion to 
                        reconsider the vote by which the motion is 
                        agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in 
                        order. If a motion to proceed to the 
                        consideration of the joint resolution is agreed 
                        to, the joint resolution shall remain the 
                        unfinished business of the Senate until 
                        disposed of.
                            ``(v) Consideration.--Consideration of the 
                        joint resolution described in subparagraph (A) 
                        and on all debatable motions and appeals in 
                        connection therewith, shall be limited to not 
                        more than 10 hours, which shall be divided 
                        equally between those favoring and those 
                        opposing the joint resolution. A motion further 
                        to limit debate is in order and not debatable. 
                        An amendment to, or a motion to postpone, or a 
                        motion to proceed to the consideration of other 
                        business, or a motion to recommit the joint 
                        resolution is not in order.
                            ``(vi) Vote on passage.--If the Senate has 
                        voted to proceed to the joint resolution 
                        described in subparagraph (A), the vote on 
                        passage of the joint resolution shall occur 
                        immediately following the conclusion of 
                        consideration of the joint resolution, and a 
                        single quorum call at the conclusion of the 
                        debate if requested in accordance with the 
                        rules of the Senate.
                            ``(vii) Rulings of the chair on 
                        procedure.--Appeals from the decisions of the 
                        Chair relating to the application of the rules 
                        of the Senate to the procedure relating to a 
                        joint resolution described in subparagraph (A) 
                        shall be decided without debate.
                    ``(D) Amendment not in order.--A joint resolution 
                considered pursuant to this subsection shall not be 
                subject to amendment in either the House of 
                Representatives or the Senate.
                    ``(E) Coordination with action by other house.--If, 
                before passing the joint resolution described in 
                subsection (A), one House receives from the other a 
                joint resolution--
                            ``(i) the joint resolution of the other 
                        House shall not be referred to a committee;
                            ``(ii) the procedure in the receiving House 
                        shall be the same as if no joint resolution had 
                        been received from the other House until the 
                        vote on passage, when the joint resolution 
                        received from the other House shall supplant 
                        the joint resolution of the receiving House;
                            ``(iii) if the Senate fails to introduce or 
                        consider a joint resolution under this section, 
                        the joint resolution of the House shall be 
                        entitled to expedited floor procedures under 
                        this section;
                            ``(iv) if, following passage of the joint 
                        resolution in the Senate, the Senate then 
                        receives the companion measure from the House 
                        of Representatives, the companion measure shall 
                        not be debatable; and
                            ``(v) debate on a veto message in the 
                        Senate under this section shall be 1 hour 
                        equally divided between the majority and 
                        minority leaders or their designees.
                    ``(F) Rules of house of representatives and 
                senate.--This paragraph is enacted by Congress--
                            ``(i) as an exercise of the rulemaking 
                        power of the Senate and House of 
                        Representatives, respectively, and as such it 
                        is deemed a part of the rules of each House, 
                        respectively, but applicable only with respect 
                        to the procedure to be followed in that House 
                        in the case of a joint resolution, and it 
                        supersedes other rules only to the extent that 
                        it is inconsistent with such rules; and
                            ``(ii) with full recognition of the 
                        constitutional right of either House to change 
                        the rules (so far as relating to the procedure 
                        of that House) at any time, in the same manner, 
                        and to the same extent as in the case of any 
                        other rule of that House.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendment made by section 2 shall take effect January 1, 2013.
                                 <all>