CONTENTS H.R. 1337, 86th Congress, 1st session_ H.R. 5203, 86th Congress, 1st session. H.R. 7469, 86th Congress, 1st session_ H.R. 10971, 86th Congress, 2d session. H.R. 12515, 86th Congress, 2d session_ Page Hemphill, Hon. Robert W., a Representative in Congress from the 18 Excerpt from the Postmaster General re request for additional 9 Hemphill, Hon. Robert W., a Representative in Congress from the 19 Rogers, Hon. Paul G., a Representative in Congress from the State of 56 Wright, Hon. Jim, a Representative in Congress from the State of III REDUCING THE PUBLIC DEBT (H.R. 1337, H.R. 5203, H.R. 7469, H.R. 10971, H.R. 12515, and H.J. Res. 184) WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1960 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION SUBCOMMITTEE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room 1501-B, New House Office Building, Hon. William L. Dawson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives William L. Dawson, Dante B. Fascell, and Neal Smith. Also present: Elmer W. Henderson, counsel; Phineas Indritz, counsel; and Lawrence Redmond, clerk. Chairman DAWSON. We will proceed now to the consideration of several bills relating to the Federal budget and financing the national debt. There has been considerable interest in and discussion of these problems in the Congress. This subcommittee has long been interested in taking whatever steps are necessary to improve our budgetary procedures and reduce the heavy burden of the public debt. (H.R. 1337, H.R. 5203, H.R. 7469, H.R. 10971, H.R. 12515, and H.J. Res. 184 follow :) [H.R. 1337, 86th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To provide that the President shall include in the budget submitted to the Congress under section 201 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, an item for not less than $2,000,000,000 to be applied toward reduction of the national debt Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 201(a)(5) of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, is amended by inserting immediately after "fiscal year," the following: "with not less than $2,000,000,000 to be applied toward reduction of the national debt;". [H.R. 5203, 86th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To amend the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, to provide for the retirement of the public debt by setting aside the first 5 per centum of the budget receipts of the United States for each fiscal year for the sole purpose of retirement of obligations counted as part of the public debt Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 201(a) of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. 11), is amended by inserting immediately below paragraph (11) thereof the following: 1 "Except in time of war each budget submitted to the Congress shall include an item, in an amount not less than 5 per centum of the estimated budget receipts for the ensuing fiscal year, which item shall be exclusively for retirement of the public debt. For the purposes of section 202 of this Act (31 U.S.C. 13), such item shall be treated as an expenditure for the ensuing fiscal year." SEC. 2. Section 202 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. 13), is amended (1) by striking out ", loans," in subsection (a); (2) by inserting immediately after "appropriate action" in subsection (a) the following: “(including, but only in time of war, loans)"; and (3) by adding at the end of such section the following: "(c) Except in time of war, the first amounts received in the Treasury of the United States after July 1 of each fiscal year shall be set aside in a special account, until the aggregate of the amounts so set aside for that fiscal year equals the amount included in the budget for that year under section 201 of this Act, for retirement of the public debt. Amounts so set aside shall be used exclusively for retirement of obligations of the United States which are included in determining the face amount of obligations which may be outstanding at any one time pursuant to section 21 of the Second Liberty Bond Act (31 U.S.C. 757b)." [H.R. 7469, 86th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To amend the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, to provide for the retirement of the public debt; to limit the size of the Federal budget; and for other purposes : Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 201(a) of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. 11), is amended by inserting immediately below paragraph (11) thereof the following: "Except in time of war, each budget submitted to the Congress shall include a request for an item of appropriation equal to 1 per centum of the aggregate face amount of the obligations outstanding as of July 1 of the calendar year in which this sentence is enacted which are included as a part of the public debt. Such item shall be used exclusively for the retirement of the public debt. No budget for any fiscal year shall be considered as balanced, or as providing for estimated receipts equal to or in excess of estimated expenditures, unless such item is taken into account, and considered as an estimated expenditure for such fiscal year." SEC. 2. Section 202 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. 13), is amended (1) by striking out ", loans," in subsection (a); (2) by inserting immediately after "appropriate action" in subsection (a) the following: "(including, but only in time of war, loans)"; and (3) by adding at the end thereof the following: "(c) Except in time of war, no budget shall be submitted to the Congress for any fiscal year which shall request appropriations aggregating in excess of the total of appropriations requested in the budget submitted for the prior fiscal year." [H.R. 10971, 86th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To provide that until the national debt is retired, not less than 10 per centum of the net budget receipts of the United States for each fiscal year shall be utilized solely for reduction of the national debt Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 201 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(g) Until the public debt has been retired, the budget submitted to the Congress for each fiscal year beginning after the date of enactment of this subsection may not provide for expenditures in a total amount exceeding 90 per centum of the estimated net budget receipts of the United States for such fiscal year. The net budget receipts of the United States in excess of such expenditures for each such fiscal year shall be available only for retirement of the public debt. This subsection shall not be applicable in time of war." [H.R. 12515, 86th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To provide that until the national debt is retired, not less than 10 per centum of the net budget receipts of the United States for each fiscal year shall be utilized solely for reduction of the national debt Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 201 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(g) Until the public debt has been retired, the budget submitted to the Congress for each fiscal year beginnig after the date of enactment of this subsection may not provide for expenditures in a total amount exceeding 90 per centum of the estimated net budget receipts of the United States for such fiscal year. The net budget receipts of the United States in excess of such expenditures for each such fiscal year shall be available only for retirement of the public debt. This subsection shall not be applicable in time of war." [H.J. Res. 184, 86th Cong., 1st sess.] JOINT RESOLUTION To prevent deficit financing by limiting appropriations to the amount of the President's budget except where additional revenues to cover such appropriations have been specifically made available Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That no amount shall be appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1960, or for any subsequent fiscal year, if the appropriation of such amount, when taken together with all other appropriations theretofore made for such fiscal year, would result in total appropriations for such fiscal year in an amount in excess of the President's budget for such year, unless (at or before the time when such appropriation is made) provision is made by law for additional Federal revenue in an amount at least equal to the amount of such excess. Chairman DAWSON. Our first bill will be H.R. 5203, introduced by Congressman Haley, which provides for retiring the public debt by setting aside 5 percent of budget receipts for each fiscal year. Congressman Haley, we are happy indeed to have you with us, and we hope that you are as much interested and will take as good care of this matter as you have been of the Indians who are surviving. STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES A. HALEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA Mr. HALEY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. First, I would like to thank you for the opportunity of being here this morning. We not only take care of Indians down in my community, we also try to take care of some of my colleagues, like Mr. Fascell, who has people down there who forgot to file on lands that they have been living on for 80 years, and so forth; so we have many problems. Mr. Chairman, since I believe fiscal responsibility can be achieved, that Federal spending can be reduced and the budget balanced, and inasmuch as I am firmly convinced something must be done to bring about an orderly retirement of the public debt, I introduced this bill which I believe presents a reasonable method of paying off the tremendous debt we have accumulated. I hope that this committee and the Congress, if the committee sees fit to pass this bill out, will support this plan and bring about the above desired results with respect to fiscal policies of the Federal Government. |