Pay Down the Debt Act of 2015
Latest action · Oct 20, 2015 Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
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 20, 2015
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Pay Down the Debt Act of 2015
This bill amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to establish a legislative process to stabilize the debt using the prior year's ratio of debt held by the public to the estimated gross domestic product (GDP) as a target.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must report annually on whether the target will be exceeded in any of the five ensuing fiscal years.
If the OMB reports that the target will be exceeded in any year between FY2017-FY2025, the President's budget for that year must include legislative recommendations to achieve the target.
If the CBO reports that the target will be exceeded in any year between FY2017-FY2025:
- the congressional budget resolution for that year must include reconciliation instructions directing congressional committees to recommend legislation to achieve the target, or
- any Member of Congress may introduce a bill to reach the target, to be considered using expedited legislative procedures if Congress has not agreed to a budget resolution by June 15th that meets the requirements.
If debt stabilization legislation is required, Congress may not consider legislation increasing mandatory budget authority or decreasing revenues until the debt legislation has been agreed to and sent to the President.
The requirements imposed by this bill are suspended if: (1) the Department of the Treasury estimates that real GDP for a year will grow by less than 1% compared to the prior year, or (2) a joint resolution is enacted stating that the debt stabilization legislation would cause or exacerbate an economic downturn.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Oct 20, 2015Introduced in House
- Oct 20, 2015Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Economics and Public Finance.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Oct 20, 2015Introduced 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.