[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3182 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3182

 To provide further means of accountability of the United States debt 
                   and promote fiscal responsibility.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 13, 2016

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide further means of accountability of the United States debt 
                   and promote fiscal responsibility.

    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 ``Debt Management and Fiscal 
Responsibility Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY REPORT TO CONGRESS BEFORE REACHING 
              DEBT LIMIT.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 31 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 3131. Report before reaching debt limit
    ``(a) In General.--Not later than 60 days and not earlier than 21 
days before any date on which the Secretary of the Treasury anticipates 
the public debt will reach the limit specified under section 3101, as 
modified by section 3101A, the Secretary shall appear before the 
Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Finance of the Senate, to submit the information described 
under subsection (b).
    ``(b) Information Required To Be Presented.--In an appearance 
described under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
submit the following:
            ``(1) Debt report.--A report on the state of the public 
        debt, including--
                    ``(A) the historical levels of the debt, current 
                amount and composition of the debt, and future 
                projections of the debt;
                    ``(B) the historical levels of Federal revenue, 
                including corporate and individual Federal income taxes 
                as a percent of the gross domestic product;
                    ``(C) the drivers and composition of future debt;
                    ``(D) how, if the debt limit is raised, the United 
                States will meet debt obligations, including principal 
                and interest;
                    ``(E) any reduction measures the Secretary intends 
                to take to fund Federal Government obligations if the 
                debt limit is not raised, including--
                            ``(i) notifying Congress when the limit has 
                        been reached; and
                            ``(ii) notifying Congress when the 
                        Secretary has begun taking such measures and 
                        specifying which measures are currently being 
                        used;
                    ``(F) if the President recommends that Congress 
                adopt, in general, a balanced budget amendment to the 
                Constitution of the United States to help control the 
                accumulation of future debt; and
                    ``(G) the most recent contingency plans formulated 
                for any default on United States Treasury securities 
                (stemming from, for example, cyberattack, terrorist 
                attack, severe weather event, debt limit impasse, or 
                any other contingency that could interrupt Treasury 
                access to funding markets) or downgrade of the credit 
                rating of the United States.
            ``(2) Statement of intent.--A detailed explanation of--
                    ``(A) proposals of the President to reduce the 
                public debt in the short term (the current and 
                following fiscal year), medium term (approximately 3 to 
                5 fiscal years), and long term (approximately 10 fiscal 
                years), and proposals of the President to adjust the 
                debt-to-gross domestic product ratio;
                    ``(B) the impact an increased debt limit will have 
                on future Federal Government spending, debt service, 
                and the position of the United States dollar as the 
                international reserve currency;
                    ``(C) projections of fiscal health and 
                sustainability of major direct-spending entitlement 
                programs (including Social Security, Medicare, and 
                Medicaid);
                    ``(D) the plan of the President for each week that 
                the debt of the United States is at the statutory 
                limit, to publicly disclose, on the Web site of the 
                Department of the Treasury--
                            ``(i) all reduction measures currently 
                        being used by the Secretary to avoid defaulting 
                        on obligations of the Federal Government;
                            ``(ii) with respect to each reduction 
                        measure, whether or not such measure is 
                        currently being used--
                                    ``(I) the total dollar amount of 
                                such measure that has been used; and
                                    ``(II) the total dollar amount of 
                                such measure that the Secretary 
                                estimates is still available for use; 
                                and
                            ``(iii) the date on which the Secretary 
                        estimates that all reduction measures will be 
                        exhausted, and the Federal Government will 
                        begin defaulting on its obligations; and
                    ``(E) any extraordinary measures the Secretary 
                intends to take to fund Federal Government obligations 
                if the debt limit is not raised, a projection of how 
                long such extraordinary measures will fund the Federal 
                Government, and a projection of the administrative cost 
                of taking such extraordinary measures.
            ``(3) Progress report.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A detailed report on the 
                progress of implementing all proposals of the President 
                described under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2).
                    ``(B) Exception.--The report described under this 
                paragraph shall only be submitted if the Secretary of 
                the Treasury has already appeared at least once 
                pursuant to this section during any term of office for 
                a particular President.
    ``(c) Public Access to Information.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
shall place on the homepage of the Department of the Treasury a link to 
a webpage that shall serve as a repository of information made 
available to the public for at least 6 months following the date of 
release of the relevant information, including--
            ``(1) the debt report submitted under subsection (b)(1);
            ``(2) the detailed explanation submitted under subsection 
        (b)(2);
            ``(3) the progress report submitted under subsection 
        (b)(3); and
            ``(4) the comprehensive summaries of contingency plans 
        formulated for any debt default on United States Treasury 
        securities or downgrade of the credit rating of the United 
        States submitted under subsection (b)(1)(G).
    ``(d) Reduction Measures Defined.--For purposes of this section, 
the term `reduction measures' means each of the following:
            ``(1) Directing or approving the issuance of debt by the 
        Federal Financing Bank for the purpose of entering into an 
        exchange transaction for debt that is subject to the limit 
        under this section.
            ``(2) Suspending investments in the Government Securities 
        Investment Fund of the Thrift Savings Fund.
            ``(3) Suspending investments in the stabilization fund 
        established under section 5302.
            ``(4) Suspending new investments in the Civil Service 
        Retirement and Disability Fund or the Postal Service Retiree 
        Health Benefits Fund.
            ``(5) Selling or redeeming securities, obligations, or 
        other invested assets of the Civil Service Retirement and 
        Disability Fund or the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits 
        Fund before maturity.
            ``(6) Such other measures as the Secretary determines 
        appropriate.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 31 of 
title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 3130 the following:

``3131. Report before reaching debt limit.''.

SEC. 3. ACCESS TO CERTAIN TREASURY DEPARTMENT DATA.

    Upon written request from the Chairman of the Committee on Finance 
of the Senate or the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
Representatives, the Secretary of the Treasury shall provide to the 
requesting Chairman financial and economic data relevant to determining 
the amount of the public debt of the United States, including--
            (1) cash flow and debt transaction information used in 
        preparing the Daily Treasury Statement, including current 
        balances, receipts, and payments;
            (2) operating cash balance projections;
            (3) relevant information regarding any extraordinary 
        measures taken to prevent the public debt from exceeding 
        limitation imposed by section 3101(b) of title 31, United 
        States Code, including--
                    (A) measures taken with respect to investments in 
                the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund;
                    (B) the suspension of the issuance of obligations 
                to the Government Securities Investment Fund In the 
                Thrift Savings Fund; and
                    (C) measures taken with respect to the 
                stabilization fund under section 5302 of title 31 of 
                such Code;
            (4) contingency plans for addressing delayed payments on 
        debt obligations; and
            (5) contingency plans for addressing ratings downgrades on 
        debt obligations.
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