[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 110th Congress]
[110th Congress]
[House Document 109-157]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 978-981]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
Rule XXVII
Statutory Limit on Public Debt
[[Page 979]]
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 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.
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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
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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.
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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.
3. (a) The report of the Committee on the Budget on a concurrent
resolution described in
(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.
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3101(a) of such title, that may be outstanding at any one time.
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
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 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) and reinstated in the 108th Congress as rule XVII (sec.
2(t), H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 2003, p. 7).
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).