Pay America First Act
Latest action · Oct 16, 2013 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedOct 16, 2013
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Pay America First Act - Makes this Act effective if the federal government defaults on its legal obligations for the first time in its history, as evidenced by one or more of certain actions taken by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Counts among such actions withholding from making payments of debt obligations to foreign bond holders, including those in China, Iran, and the Cayman Islands, before:
- making a payment of a debt obligation to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds or redeeming a debt obligation held by those trust funds;
- redeeming a debt obligation held by a trust fund providing veterans benefits, including the Veterans Special Life Insurance Fund, the Veterans Reopened Insurance Fund, the Armed Forces Retirement Home Fund, and the Court of Veteran Appeals Retirement Fund;
- redeeming a debt obligation held by an intragovernmental fund to assist Americans during a natural disaster, including reserves for the National Flood Insurance Program and other disaster relief funds appropriated to the President; or
- making a payment of debt obligations to the Department of Defense (DOD), including civilian and uniformed personnel (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force), military active pay and military retirement benefits, and military benefits to their families.
Requires the Secretary, after exercising such authority, to report each week to Congress on the payments issued and amount of revenues incoming and remaining reserves for upcoming payments issued.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Oct 16, 2013 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Oct 16, 2013Introduced in House
- Oct 16, 2013Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the page H6643.
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To authorize the United States Department of Treasury to prioritize certain payments in the event that the debt limit is reached.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Pay America First Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Economics and Public Finance.
- Budget deficits and national debt
- Congressional oversight
- Defense spending
- Department of Defense
- Disaster relief and insurance
- Economics and Public Finance
- Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
- Government trust funds
- Medicare
- Military personnel and dependents
- Securities
- Social security and elderly assistance
- U.S. and foreign investments
- Veterans' pensions and compensation
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Oct 16, 2013Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
