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To amend title 31, United States Code, to require the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before Congress before the debt limit is reached or extraordinary measures are taken to prevent default.
Summary
This bill requires the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before Congress 21 to 60 days before the federal debt reaches its statutory limit or before the Treasury uses emergency financial maneuvers to avoid default. The Secretary must explain any extraordinary measures the Treasury intends to take to fund government obligations and estimate their administrative costs. The bill also requires the Secretary to describe any changes to these measures or other changes to government funding resulting from an increase in the debt limit.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to David Schweikert’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $273,533
- CEO $16,700
- STENSON TAMADDON $13,700
- OPTIMA FINANCIAL GROUP $13,600
- BRODIE GENERATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNERS $13,200
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for David Schweikert → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jan 14, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. · house
- Jan 14, 2025 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
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Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 14, 2025
Mr. Schweikert introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend title 31, United States Code, to require the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before Congress before the debt limit is reached or extraordinary measures are taken to prevent default.
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 Explanation Before Taxwriters Act” or the “DEBT Act”.
SEC. 2. SECRETARY OF TREASURY APPEARANCE BEFORE CONGRESS BEFORE REACHING DEBT LIMIT OR EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TAKEN.
(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. Secretary of Treasury appearance before Congress before reaching debt limit or extraordinary measures taken
“(a) In General.—Not more than sixty days and not less than twenty-one days prior to any date on which the Secretary of the Treasury anticipates either that the public debt will reach the limit specified under section 3101, as modified by section 3101A, or that extraordinary measures will be taken to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations, 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 a detailed explanation of—
“(1) any extraordinary measures the Secretary will take to fund Federal government obligations prior to such increase and an estimate of the administrative cost of taking such extraordinary measures; and
“(2) any reversal of such measures, and any other changes taken in the funding of Federal government obligations, as a result of such increase.
“(b) Extraordinary Measures Defined.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘extraordinary measures’ means each of the following:
“(1) Suspending sales of State and Local Government Series Treasury securities.
“(2) Redeeming existing, and suspending new, investments of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.
“(3) Suspending reinvestment of the Government Securities Investment Fund.
“(4) Suspending reinvestment of the Exchange Stabilization Fund.
“(5) 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.
“(6) Suspending investments in the Government Securities Investment Fund of the Thrift Savings Fund.
“(7) Suspending investments in the stabilization fund established under section 5302 of title 31, United States Code.
“(8) Suspending new investments in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund or the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.
“(9) 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.”.
(b) Clerical Amendment.—The table of analysis for chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 3130 the following:
“3131. Secretary of Treasury appearance before Congress before reaching debt limit or extraordinary measures taken.”. <all>
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