Debt Subject to Statutory Debt Limit in the United States

Debt Subject to Statutory Debt Limit in the Federal Budget Process

Meaning of Debt Subject to Statutory Debt Limit in the congressional and executive budget processes (GAO source): Debt guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States.

As defined by section 3101 of title 31 of the United States Code, the debt subject to the statutory debt limit includes debt issued under chapter 31 of that title. This includes Treasury debt except the securities issued by the Federal Financing Bank (FFB) under authority of section 9(a) of the Federal Financing Bank Act of 1973 (12 U.S.C. § 2888(a)) upon which there is a separate limit of $15 billion, and a small amount of agency debt. Agency debt that by law is not guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States—for example, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (under authority of section 15d of the TVA Act of 1933, 16 U.S.C. § 831n-4) and the United States Postal Service (under authority of 39 U.S.C. § 2005(a))—is not subject to the ceiling imposed by section 3101, but is usually subject to its own ceiling.

Resources

See Also

• Federal Appropriations
• Entries about the United States Budget Process in the Encyclopedia (including Debt Subject to Statutory Debt Limit)
• Public Debt

Further Reading

• Legislatures and the budget process: the myth of fiscal control

  (J Wehner, 2010)

• Reconcilable Differences?: Congress, the Budget Process, and the Deficit (JB Gilmour, 1990)
• Fiscal institutions and fiscal performance

  (JM Poterba, J von Hagen, 2008)