Abstract
Federal debt and deficit issues are of grave concern in the United States. Congress enforces US debt limitations pursuant to its constitutional authority to control spending and borrowing. Since 2001 Congress has modified the debt limit 14 times. State and local debt and deficit issues are equally serious. The debate is ongoing as to what reforms will effectively address these pressing concerns. On the federal level the proposed solutions include a balanced budget amendment, elimination of the debt limit altogether, and consideration of failure to pay the US debt a constitutional violation based on the “Public Debt Clause,” which, it is argued, allows violations to be justiciable, on the one hand, and focusing on growth rather than debt and deficit on the other. On the State and municipal level proposals range from relying on market mechanisms, imposing constitutional limits on debt, tying the debt threshold to annual revenue, and submitting issuance of bonds or other indebtedness to the electorate for approval. The debate continues.
The author is deeply grateful to Katharine Nanda, Esq., and his research assistants Bryan Neihart and Lincoln Puffer for their invaluable help in the preparation of this report.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Reuters (2013).
- 3.
Department of the Treasury (2013).
- 4.
Weisman (2013).
- 5.
Davidson (2011).
- 6.
U.S. Const. Amend. XIV, § 4.
- 7.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 8.
31 U.S.C. §§ 1104, 1105 (2013). See also Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 9.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 10.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 11.
Budget Contents and Submission to Congress, 31 U.S.C. § 1105(a) (2011).
- 12.
Tollestrup (2014).
- 13.
Tollestrup (2014).
- 14.
2 U.S.C. § 601–645 (2011); Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 15.
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, 2 U.S.C. §§ 601–603, 623, 631–644, 651–656, 658(a)-(g), 661(a)-(f), 665(a)-(e).
- 16.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 17.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 18.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 19.
Tollestrup (2014).
- 20.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 21.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 22.
Tollestrup (2014).
- 23.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 24.
Tollestrup (2014).
- 25.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 26.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 27.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 28.
Allen (2013).
- 29.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (2014).
- 30.
Heniff (2012).
- 31.
Allen (2013).
- 32.
U.S. Constitution, Art. I, § 9.
- 33.
1921 Budget and Accounting Act, 42 Stat. §§ 20–27 (1921).
- 34.
Office of Management and Budget.
- 35.
Joyce & Reischauer (1992).
- 36.
Koch (2013).
- 37.
Austin and Levit (2013).
- 38.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 39.
Office of Management and Budget.
- 40.
Austin (2011).
- 41.
Austin (2011).
- 42.
Levit, Bass, Nicola and Nuschler (2013); Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 43.
U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 1: “The Congress shall have Power . . . to pay the Debts . . . of the United States”; U.S. Const. art I, § 8, cl. 2: “The Congress shall have Power . . . [t]o borrow money on the credit of the United States”; U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 7: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time”; U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 18: “The Congress shall have Power . . . [t]o make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.”
- 44.
Austin and Levit (2013).
- 45.
31 U.S.C. § 3101 (2013).
- 46.
- 47.
Austin and Levit (2013).
- 48.
Austin and Levit (2013).
- 49.
Austin and Levit (2013).
- 50.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 51.
- 52.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 53.
Austin and Levit (2013).
- 54.
Austin and Levit (2013); Levit, Bass, Nicola, and Nuschler (2013).
- 55.
Austin and Levit (2013).
- 56.
Austin and Levit (2013).
- 57.
Id.; 31 U.S.C. § 3101(b) (raising limit to $14,294,000,000,000); Austin and Levit (2013).
- 58.
Levit, Bass, Nicola, and Nuschler (2013).
- 59.
Tollestrup (2014).
- 60.
Dwyer and Miller (2011).
- 61.
PL 113-3, Feb. 4, 2013, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-113publ3/pdf/PLAW-113publ3.pdf.
- 62.
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014, PL 113-46, 31 USC 3101 Note 1002, (c)(1), http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr2775enr/pdf/BILLS-113hr2775enr.pdf.
- 63.
Austin and Levit (2014).
- 64.
2 U.S.C. § 901 (as amended Jan. 2, 2013).
- 65.
Austin (2011).
- 66.
2 U.S.C. § 900(7).
- 67.
2 U.S.C. § 900(8).
- 68.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 69.
2 U.S.C. § 900(4)(B).
- 70.
2 U.S.C. § 900(4)(A).
- 71.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 72.
2 U.S.C. § 901a(1)(A)-(B); 2 U.S.C. § 901a(2)(A)-(I).
- 73.
2 U.S.C. § 901a(1)(A); OMB Fiscal Year 2014, supra note 8, at 120.
- 74.
2 U.S.C. § 901a(1)(B).
- 75.
2 U.S.C. 901a(3)-(4), (8), (11).
- 76.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 77.
2 U.S.C. § 906(7)(A)-(C) (exempting low-income subsidies, catastrophe subsidies, and qualified individual premiums, such as payments to the states for coverage of Medicare); 2 U.S.C. § 906(b), (d) (providing special rules for student loans and Medicare).
- 78.
Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 79.
Op. cit, n. 78: Office of Management and Budget (2013).
- 80.
2 U.S.C. § 931.
- 81.
31 U.S.C. § 3101A (2013).
- 82.
Pub. L. 113-3, 127 Stat. 51 (Feb. 4, 2013).
- 83.
Pub. L. 113-67, (127 Stt.1165 (December 26, 2013).
- 84.
Tollestrup (2014).
- 85.
Inman and Fitts (1990).
- 86.
Inman and Fitts (1990).
- 87.
Viser (2013).
- 88.
McCubbins (1990).
- 89.
McCubbins (1990).
- 90.
McCubbins (1990).
- 91.
H. R. 24, 113th Cong. (2013), http://beta.congress.gov/113/bills/hjres24/BILLS-113hjres24ih.pdf.
- 92.
Schragger (2012).
- 93.
Schragger (2012).
- 94.
Congressional Budget Office (1995).
- 95.
Abramowicz (2011). See, U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 4: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”
- 96.
Abramowicz (2011).
- 97.
Wessel (2013).
- 98.
- 99.
- 100.
- 101.
- 102.
The Commerce Clause, U.S. Const., art. I, § 8, cl. 3.
- 103.
New York v. U.S., 505 U.S. 144, 167 (1992).
- 104.
Coniglio (2013).
- 105.
Louisiana Public Facilities Authority v. Foster, 795 So. 2d 288, 2001-0009 (La. 2001); California Assn. of Retail Tobacconists v. State of California, 109 Cal. App. 4th 792, 135 Cal. Rptr. 2d 224 (4th Dist. 2003).
- 106.
Coniglio (2013); Oklahoma Educ. Ass’n v. State ex rel. Oklahoma Legislature, 2007 OK 30, 158 P.3d 1058 (Okla. 2007).
- 107.
Oklahoma Educ. Ass’n v. State ex rel. Oklahoma Legislature, 2007 OK 30, 158 P.3d 1058, 1066 (Okla. 2007), quoting Calvey v. Saxon, 2000 OK 17, 21, 997 P.2d 164, 171 (Okla. 2000).
- 108.
Rubin (1993).
- 109.
Rubin (1993).
- 110.
Briffault (2003).
- 111.
Sharpless v. Mayor of Philadelphia, 21 Pa. 147, 169 (1853).
- 112.
Briffault (2003).
- 113.
Ind. Const. art. X, § 5.
- 114.
Coniglio (2013).
- 115.
Jones v. City of Portland, 245 U.S. 217, 221 (1917).
- 116.
Colo. Const. art. XI, § 3.
- 117.
Ga. Const. art. 7, § 4, ¶ 1(b).
- 118.
Briffault (2003).
- 119.
Cal. Const. art. XVI, §1(a).
- 120.
Coniglio (2013).
- 121.
Ind. Const. art. XIII, § 1.
- 122.
Idaho Const. art. VIII, § 3.
- 123.
Rubin (1993).
- 124.
Coniglio (2013).
- 125.
Andrello v. Dulan, 49 Misc. 2d 17, 22, 266 N.Y.S.2d 738, 744 (Sup. 1966).
- 126.
Andrello v. Dulan, 49 Misc. 2d 17, 22, 266 N.Y.S.2d 738, 744 (Sup. 1966).
- 127.
Coniglio (2013).
- 128.
Coniglio (2013).
- 129.
Montano v. Gabaldon, 108 N.M. 94, 96, 766 P.2d 1328, 1330 (1989); Coniglio (2013).
- 130.
Coniglio (2013).
- 131.
Mercantile Bank of Illinois, N.A. v. School Dist. of Osceola, 834 S.W. 2d 737, 738 (Mo. 1992).
- 132.
National Conference of State Legislatures (2010).
- 133.
National Conference of State Legislatures (2010).
- 134.
National Conference of State Legislatures (2010).
- 135.
Schragger (2012).
- 136.
Schragger (2012).
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Nanda, V.P. (2016). Limitations on Government Debt and Deficits in the United States. In: Morrison, F. (eds) Fiscal Rules - Limits on Governmental Deficits and Debt. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41205-4_12
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