Default Prevention Act
Download PDFSponsored by
Rep. McClintock, Tom [R-CA-5]
ID: M001177
Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
January 3, 2025
Introduced
Committee Review
📍 Current Status
Next: The bill moves to the floor for full chamber debate and voting.
Floor Action
Passed House
Senate Review
Passed Congress
Presidential Action
Became Law
📚 How does a bill become a law?
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Bill Summary
Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the 119th Congress. The Default Prevention Act (HR 182) is a beautifully crafted exercise in doublespeak, designed to make you believe that our esteemed lawmakers are actually doing something about the national debt.
**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The bill's primary objective is to create a tiered system for prioritizing debt payments, ensuring that certain obligations (Tier I) take precedence over others. This, of course, is nothing more than a cleverly worded attempt to avoid defaulting on our debts while maintaining the illusion of fiscal responsibility.
**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill establishes five tiers of obligations:
1. Tier I: Payments for principal and interest on debt held by the public, trust funds, and Medicare. 2. Tier II: Department of Defense obligations and veterans' benefits. 3. Tier III: Everything else that's not Tier I or II (because who needs specificity?). 4. Tier IV: Federal employee compensation, travel expenses, and other miscellaneous payments. 5. Tier V: Congressional salaries (because they're clearly the most important).
The Secretary of the Treasury is required to submit weekly reports detailing payment amounts for each tier. Because transparency is key... or so they claim.
**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** Everyone's a winner in this game! The public gets to pretend that their government is responsible, while lawmakers get to maintain their salaries and benefits (Tier V). The Department of Defense and veterans' affairs get priority payments (Tier II), and Medicare recipients can rest easy knowing they're still on the Tier I list.
**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill is a masterclass in kicking the can down the road. By creating a tiered system, lawmakers can avoid making tough decisions about budget cuts or tax increases. Instead, they'll just prioritize payments and hope no one notices the impending doom that is our national debt.
In reality, this bill does nothing to address the underlying issues driving our debt crisis. It's a Band-Aid on a bullet wound, designed to placate voters while maintaining the status quo of fiscal irresponsibility.
So, let's give a round of applause to the 119th Congress for their creative attempt at avoiding accountability. Bravo!
Related Topics
💰 Campaign Finance Network
Rep. McClintock, Tom [R-CA-5]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
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Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance
This bill has 1 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6]
ID: G000576
Top Contributors
10
Donor Network - Rep. McClintock, Tom [R-CA-5]
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 25 nodes and 33 connections
Total contributions: $103,700
Top Donors - Rep. McClintock, Tom [R-CA-5]
Showing top 20 donors by contribution amount
Project 2025 Policy Matches
This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document. Higher similarity scores indicate stronger thematic connections.
Introduction
— 691 — 22 DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY William L. Walton, Stephen Moore, and David R. Burton INTRODUCTION The U.S. Treasury Department has a broad regulatory and policy reach. The next Administration should make major policy changes to: (1) reduce regulatory impediments to economic growth that reduce living standards and endanger pros- perity; (2) reduce regulatory compliance costs that increase prices and cost jobs; (3) promote fiscal responsibility; (4) promote the international competitiveness of U.S. businesses; and (5) better respect the American people’s due process and privacy rights. These goals should be accomplished through: executive action (primar- ily treasury orders and treasury directives) and departmental reorganization; rulemakings; promoting constructive policies in Congress; actions in international organizations; and treaties. The primary subject matter focus of the incoming Administration’s Treasury Department should be: l Tax policy and tax administration; l Fiscal responsibility; l Improved financial regulation; l Addressing the economic and financial aspects of the geopolitical threat posed by China and other hostile countries;
Introduction
— 691 — 22 DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY William L. Walton, Stephen Moore, and David R. Burton INTRODUCTION The U.S. Treasury Department has a broad regulatory and policy reach. The next Administration should make major policy changes to: (1) reduce regulatory impediments to economic growth that reduce living standards and endanger pros- perity; (2) reduce regulatory compliance costs that increase prices and cost jobs; (3) promote fiscal responsibility; (4) promote the international competitiveness of U.S. businesses; and (5) better respect the American people’s due process and privacy rights. These goals should be accomplished through: executive action (primar- ily treasury orders and treasury directives) and departmental reorganization; rulemakings; promoting constructive policies in Congress; actions in international organizations; and treaties. The primary subject matter focus of the incoming Administration’s Treasury Department should be: l Tax policy and tax administration; l Fiscal responsibility; l Improved financial regulation; l Addressing the economic and financial aspects of the geopolitical threat posed by China and other hostile countries; — 692 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l Reform of the anti-money laundering and beneficial ownership reporting systems; l Reversal of the racist “equity” agenda of the Biden Administration; and l Reversal of the economically destructive and ineffective climate-related financial-risk agenda of the Biden Administration. BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TREASURY DEPARTMENT The Biden Administration Treasury Department has failed badly in achieving every one of the agency’s core objectives. The financial affairs of the nation have seldom been in worse condition, with the national debt expanding by more than $4 trillion in Biden’s first two years in office. No President in modern times—perhaps ever—has been more fiscally reckless than has the Biden Administration. The soundness and stability of U.S. currency, the dollar, has been put at risk because of the worst inflation in four decades. American families have been made poorer by Biden’s economic strategy of taxing, spending, borrowing, regulating, and printing money. The average family has seen real annual earn- ings fall about $6,000 during the Biden Administration.1 In 2022, the average American’s 401(k) plan dropped in value from $130,700 to $103,900—more than 20 percent.2 Why has the Biden Administration failed to achieve virtually all components of its mission? Under the leadership of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the depart- ment has made “equity” and “climate change” among its top five priorities. The next Administration must act decisively to curtail activities that fall outside Trea- sury’s mandate and primary mission. Treasury must refocus on its core missions of promoting economic growth, prosperity, and economic stability. For a clear statement of Treasury’s mission drift, one need look no further than Secretary Yellen’s introduction in the Treasury Department’s Fiscal Year 2022–2026 Strategic Plan: We will have to address the structural problems that have plagued our economy for decades: the decline in labor force participation, income and racial inequality, and serious underinvestment in crucial public goods like childcare, education, and physical infrastructure. And then there are rising challenges, like climate change, which, left unchecked, will undermine every aspect of our economy from supply chains to the financial system.3 Treasury’s mission drift into a “woke” agenda, is exemplified in a comparison of Domestic Finance’s changed responsibilities from 2015 to 2023:
Introduction
— 660 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise Moreover, the International Trade Administration—which “is centrally placed to craft and implement U.S. trade policy”—should counter “the malign influence of China and other U.S. adversaries” and strongly “defend against trade violations.” In Chapter 22, William L. Walton, Stephen Moore, and David R. Burton note that under the Biden Administration, the Treasury Department has failed to achieve any of the agency’s core objectives. Under the leadership of Secretary Janet Yellen, Treasury has placed “equity” and “climate change” among its top five pri- orities. The next Administration must act decisively to curtail activities that fall outside of Treasury’s mandate and primary mission. Treasury must refocus on its core mission of promoting economic growth, prosperity, and economic stability. The authors add that “Treasury should make balancing the federal budget a mis- sion-critical objective.” The authors propose legislation to reform the tax code, writing, Tax policy has a powerful impact on the economy. The Treasury Department should develop and promote tax reform legislation that will promote prosperity. To accomplish this, tax reform should improve incentives to work, save, and invest. This, in turn, is accomplished primarily by reducing marginal tax rates, reducing the cost of capital, and broadening the tax base to eliminate tax-induced economic distortions by eliminating special-interest tax credits, deductions, and exclusions. Tax compliance costs will decline precipitously if the tax system is substantially simplified. The Treasury Department should also promote tax competition rather than supporting an international tax cartel. Chapter 22 includes proposals to reduce the intrusiveness and increase the accountability of the Internal Revenue Service. The chapter also explains how the interagency Committee on Foreign Invest- ment in the United States (CFIUS), chaired by Treasury, should realign its priorities to meet the United States’ current foreign policy threats, especially from China. It explains how Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which manages the anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML-CFT) programs, can be improved to reduce the burden on small firms and improve the effectiveness of the AML-CFT regime. In Chapter 25, Karen Kerrigan describes the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a “sprawling, unaccountable agency” replete with “waste, fraud, and mis- management” and guilty of “mission creep.” Moreover, its “initiatives aimed at ‘inclusivity’ are in fact creating exclusivity and stringent selectivity in deciding what types of small businesses and entities can use SBA programs.” According to Kerrigan, the Office of Advocacy “is one of the bright spots within the SBA that a conservative Administration could supercharge to dismantle extreme regulatory — 661 — Section 4: The Economy policies and advance limited-government reforms that promote economic free- dom and opportunity.” She recommends that it receive a big increase in funding and staffing and then undertake “a research agenda that includes measuring the total cost that federal regulation imposes on small businesses.” This would be one important step in making sure that “the SBA under a conservative Administration would meet the needs of America’s small-business owners and entrepreneurs, not special interests.” Former White House director of the domestic policy council Paul Winfree writes in Chapter 24 that the Federal Reserve actually causes “inflationary and recessionary cycles.” He says, “A core problem with government control of mone- tary policy is its exposure to two unavoidable political pressures: pressure to print money to subsidize government deficits and pressure to print money to boost the economy artificially until the next election.” The Fed has also added a “moral hazard” due to its “history of bailing out private firms when they engage in excess speculation.” At a “minimum,” Winfree writes, “full employment” should be elim- inated from the Federal Reserve’s mandate, “requiring it to focus on price stability alone.” The Fed should not be allowed to incorporate “environmental, social, and governance factors into its mandate.” It should be compelled “to specify its target range for inflation.” Its last-resort lending practices, “which are directly respon- sible for ‘too big to fail,’” should be curbed. Its mission, and alternatives to the Fed, should be explored by a commission created for that purpose. And a central bank digital currency, which “would provide unprecedented surveillance and potential control of financial transactions,” should be rejected. Even more ambitiously, Winfree suggests that the next Administration should think about proposing legislation that would “effectively abolish” the Federal Reserve and replace it with “free banking,” whereby “neither interest rates nor the supply of money” would be “controlled by government.” Free banking would produce a “stable and sound” currency and a “strong” financial system, “while allowing lending to flourish.” Alternatively, Winfree writes, the next Administra- tion should “consider the feasibility of a return to the gold standard.”
Showing 3 of 5 policy matches
About These Correlations
Policy matches are calculated using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text. A score of 60% or higher indicates meaningful thematic overlap. This does not imply direct causation or intent, but highlights areas where legislation aligns with Project 2025 policy objectives.