[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3774 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3774

To amend title 31, United States Code, to apply the debt limit only to 
 debt held by the public and to adjust the debt limit for increases in 
                      the gross domestic product.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 20, 2015

Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Cooper) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 31, United States Code, to apply the debt limit only to 
 debt held by the public and to adjust the debt limit for increases in 
                      the gross domestic product.

    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 ``Protect America's Credit Act of 
2015''.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF DEBT LIMIT.

    (a) Application of Debt Limit Only to Debt Held by the Public.--
            (1) In general.--Section 3101(b) of title 31, United States 
        Code, is amended by striking ``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)'' and inserting ``The face amount of 
        obligations issued under this chapter to the public and the 
        face amount of obligations issued to the public whose principal 
        and interest are guaranteed by the United States Government''.
            (2) Debt limit reduced by amount of debt no longer subject 
        to limitation.--Section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, 
        is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Effective on the date of the enactment of this subsection, 
the dollar amount in effect under subsection (b) shall be reduced by 
the excess of--
            ``(1) 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) 
        determined as of the date of the enactment of this subsection, 
        over
            ``(2) the face amount of obligations issued under this 
        chapter to the public and the face amount of obligations issued 
        to the public whose principal and interest are guaranteed by 
        the United States Government determined as of such date.''.
    (b) Adjustment of Debt Limit for Increases in the Gross Domestic 
Product.--Section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, as amended by 
subsection (a), is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(e)(1) Effective January 1 of each calender year beginning after 
2015, the dollar amount in effect under subsection (b) shall be 
increased by an amount equal to the product of such amount as in effect 
as of the close of the preceding calendar year multiplied by the 
percentage (if any) by which--
                    ``(A) the Current-Dollar GDP for the third quarter 
                of the preceding calendar year, exceeds
                    ``(B) the Current-Dollar GDP for the third quarter 
                of the second preceding calendar year.
    ``(2) The term `Current-Dollar GDP' means the current-dollar gross 
domestic product as computed and published by the Department of 
Commerce.
    ``(3) On or before December 31 of each calendar year after 2016, 
the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit a report to the Committee on 
Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Finance of the Senate which includes--
            ``(A) the amount of the increase in the debt limit which 
        will take effect under paragraph (1) on January 1 of the next 
        calendar year, and
            ``(B) a description of how each increase in the statutory 
        limit compares to the actual increase in debt.''.
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