To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to preserve all budget
surpluses until legislation is enacted significantly extending the
solvency of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESJanuary 7, 2003
Mr. HOLT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget,
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
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A BILL
To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to preserve all budget
surpluses until legislation is enacted significantly extending the
solvency of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. 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 `Social Security and Medicare Lock-box Act
of 2003'.SEC. 2. PURPOSE.It is the purpose of this Act to put social
security and Medicare solvency first, by prohibiting the use of
social security surpluses, Medicare surpluses, and any other government
surpluses for any purpose other than paying down publicly held debt,
until legislation is enacted significantly extending the solvency
of the social security and Medicare trust funds.SEC. 3. SURPLUSES
RESERVED UNTIL SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE SOLVENCY LEGISLATION
IS ENACTED.
(a) IN GENERAL- Section 312 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974
is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:`(g)
SURPLUSES RESERVED UNTIL SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE SOLVENCY LEGISLATION
IS ENACTED-
(1) IN GENERAL- Until there is both a social security solvency certification and a Medicare solvency certification, it shall not be in order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider--
(A) any concurrent resolution on the budget, or conference report thereon or amendment thereto, that would use any portion of the baseline budget surpluses, or
(B) any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report if--
(i) the enactment of that bill or resolution as reported,
(ii) the adoption and enactment of that amendment, or
(iii) the enactment of that bill or resolution in the form recommended in that conference report, would use any portion of the baseline budget surpluses.
`(2) BASELINE BUDGET SURPLUSES-
(A) IN GENERAL- For purposes of this subsection, the term `baseline budget surplus' means the sum of the on- and off-budget surpluses contained in the most recent baseline budget projections made by the Congressional Budget Office at the beginning of the annual budget cycle and no later than the month of March.
(B) BASELINE BUDGET PROJECTION- For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term `baseline budge