    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 111th Congress]
    [111st Congress]
    [House Document 110-162]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 988-991]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                   Rule XXVIII

                         Statutory Limit on Public Debt

    [[Page 989]]

    House, and the joint resolution shall be considered as passed by the
    House and duly certified and examined. The engrossed copy shall be
    signed by the Clerk and transmitted to the Senate for further
    legislative action.

    Sec. 1104. Public debt limit.

      1.  Upon adoption by Congress
    of a concurrent resolution on the budget under section 301 or 304 of the
    Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that sets forth, as the appropriate
    level of the public debt for the period to which the concurrent
    resolution relates, an amount that is different from the amount of the
    statutory limit on the public debt that otherwise would be in effect for
    that period, the Clerk shall prepare an engrossment of a joint
    resolution increasing or decreasing, as the case may be, the statutory
    limit on the public debt in the form prescribed in clause 2. Upon
    engrossment of the joint resolution, the vote by which the concurrent
    resolution on the budget was finally agreed to in the House shall also
    be considered as a vote on passage of the joint resolution in the

      2. The matter after the resolving clause in a joint resolution
    described in clause 1 shall be as follows: ``That subsection (b) of
    section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out
    the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu
    thereof `$____'.'', with the blank being filled with a dollar limitation
    equal to the appropriate level of the public debt set forth pursuant to
    section 301(a)(5) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 in the
    relevant concurrent resolution described in clause 1. If an adopted
    concurrent resolution under clause 1 sets forth different appropriate
    levels of the public debt for separate periods, only one engrossed joint
    resolution shall be prepared under clause 1; and the blank referred to
    in the preceding sentence shall be filled with the limitation that is to
    apply for each period.

    [[Page 990]]

      3. (a) The report of the Committee on the Budget on a concurrent
    resolution described in clause 1 and the joint explanatory statement of
    the managers on a conference report to accompany such a concurrent
    resolution each shall contain a clear statement of the effect the
    eventual enactment of a joint resolution engrossed under this rule would
    have on the statutory limit on the public debt.

      (b) It shall not be in order for the House to consider a concurrent
    resolution described in clause 1, or a conference report thereon, unless
    the report of the Committee on the Budget or the joint explanatory
    statement of the managers complies with paragraph (a).

      4. Nothing in this rule shall be construed as limiting or otherwise
    affecting--

          (a) the power of the House or the Senate to consider and pass
    bills or joint resolutions, without regard to the procedures under
    clause 1, that would change the statutory limit on the public debt; or

          (b) the rights of Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner,
    or committees with respect to the introduction, consideration, and
    reporting of such bills or joint resolutions.

      5. In this rule the term ``statutory limit on the public debt'' means
    the maximum face amount of obligations issued under authority of chapter
    31 of title 31, United States Code, and obligations guaranteed as to
    principal and interest by the United States (except such guaranteed
    obligations as may be held by the Secretary of the Treasury), as
    determined under section 3101(b) of such title after the application of
    section 3101(a) of such title, that may be outstanding at any one time.

    [[Page 991]]

    year 1981 (H. Con. Res. 307, June 12, 1980, pp. 14505-19; see H.J. Res.
    569 and H.J. Res. 570, June 13, 1980, p. 14609). Conforming changes were
    made in clauses 2 and 5 of this rule with the codification of title 31,
    United States Code, by Public Law 97-258 (96 Stat. 1066). The rule was
    amended in the 98th Congress (H. Res. 241, June 23, 1983, p. 17162) to
    reflect the enactment into law (P.L. 98-34) of a new permanent, rather
    than temporary, debt limit. Clause 2 was rewritten, and clause 1
    modified, to change the form of the joint resolution engrossed pursuant
    to the rule in order to delete references to a temporary debt limit and
    to reflect instead changes in a permanent debt limit. The rules change
    also provided that where a budget resolution contains more than one
    public debt limit figure (for the current and the next fiscal year),
    only one joint resolution be engrossed, containing the debt limit figure
    for the current fiscal year with a time limitation, and the debt limit
    figure for the following fiscal year as the permanent limit. Another
    conforming change in clause 1 was made in the Balanced Budget and
    Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-177, Dec. 12, 1985, p.
    36209) to delete reference to a second concurrent resolution on the
    budget (no longer required under section 310 of the Budget Act). Before
    the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this provision was
    found in former rule XLIX. Recodification placed it as rule XXIII (H.
    Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). The rule was repealed in the 107th
    Congress (sec. 2(s), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2001, p. 24), reinstated in the
    108th Congress as rule XVII (sec. 2(t), H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 2003, p. 7),
    and redesignated in the 110th Congress as rule XXVIII (sec. 301, P.L.
    110-81).
      This rule was added in the 96th Congress by Public Law 96-78 (93 Stat.
    589) and was originally applicable to concurrent resolutions on the
    budget for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 1980 (fiscal
    year 1981). However, in the 96th Congress (H. Res. 642, Apr. 23, 1980,
    p. 8800), the provisions of that public law amending the Rules of the
    House were made applicable to the third concurrent resolution on the
    budget for fiscal year 1980 as well as the first concurrent resolution
    on the budget for fiscal

      This rule has been ordered inapplicable to a conference report on a
    concurrent resolution on the budget (e.g., H. Res. 131, Mar. 25, 1999,
    p. 5671; H. Res. 446, Mar. 23, 2000, p. 3442). The date of final House
    action in adopting the conference report on the concurrent resolution on
    the budget, rather than the date of final Senate action, when later, is
    the appropriate date under this rule for deeming the House to have
    passed the joint resolution (July 14, 1986, p. 16316; Speaker Wright,
    June 25, 1987, p. 17424).