[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 146 (Tuesday, October 15, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1513]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 INTRODUCING THE DEBT LIMIT REFORM ACT

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                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 15, 2013

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the 
Debt Limit Reform Act. This bill will reform the statutory limits on 
our nation's federal debt by providing the President of the United 
States with explicit authority to raise the debt ceiling without 
Congressional approval, and by removing intra-governmental accounts 
from the debt ceiling calculation. As Congress faces an ongoing 
government shutdown that has left hundreds of thousands of American 
workers without a paycheck, we are getting ever closer to our nation 
defaulting on its debt obligations. On October 17th, the debt ceiling 
is expected to be breached. Democrats and Republicans must come 
together before then to act or risk a global economic catastrophe. This 
is exactly where we were just two years ago, and where we will be again 
in the near future if we do not take any steps to reform the way in 
which we calculate and consider our nation's debt.
  Congress has legislatively limited federal debt for nearly 100 years, 
from the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917 to the more recent Budget 
Control Act of 2011 and subsequent increases. These increases, however, 
do not address the fact that the current manner in which we determine 
the debt ceiling is no longer relevant to how we govern today.
  We need a new debt limit law--one that takes the modern world into 
account. Under this bill, the debt ceiling will distinguish between 
mere accounting techniques and actual debt. No longer will debt owed 
from one branch of our government to another be considered the same as 
debt held by foreign governments, banks, pension funds, and other 
entities. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), of the 
$16.699 trillion in outstanding debt subject to limit, roughly $11.9 
trillion is held by the public and about $4.8 trillion is held by 
government accounts.
  By excluding these government-held accounts from the debt limit 
calculation--particularly the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) 
and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds that constitute the 
Social Security Trust Funds, Medicare Parts A and B, the Civil Service 
and Military Retirement Trust Funds, Unemployment Insurance, the 
Highway Trust Fund, Community Living Assistance Services and Supports 
(CLASS) Trust Fund, and Airport and Airway Trust Fund--we will have a 
more accurate view of our actual debt obligations.
  These intra-governmental accounts are the means by which the Treasury 
tracks payouts and obligations to other government entities. They are 
accounting techniques, not debts. These funds serve to help retired 
workers and their families, the families of deceased workers, and 
disabled workers and their families. In addition, they provide 
inpatient hospital stay and medical insurance benefits; fund programs 
for civilian and military retirement; provide unemployment benefits to 
eligible workers who become unemployed through no fault of their own; 
fund road construction and mass transit projects; provide insurance for 
long-term services in the case of disability; and fund the Federal 
Aviation Administration (FAA). They need not be considered the same as 
our government's debt for purposes of calculating the debt ceiling.
  Mr. Speaker, at a time when partisan gridlock is having a devastating 
impact on our nation's economy through a government shutdown and 
further threatening to destabilize global financial systems, this 
legislation represents a common sense solution to modernizing the way 
in which we calculate our nation's debt and increase the debt ceiling. 
By excluding intragovernmental accounts from the Treasury's debt 
ceiling equation and authorizing the Executive to alter the ceiling as 
needed, the Debt Limit Reform Act will help Congress avoid some of the 
last-minute showdowns that have become all too common in recent years. 
In this way we can begin to tackle the real challenges facing this 
country.

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