[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 8 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 8

    Expressing the sense of the Senate that Congress holds the sole 
authority to borrow money on the credit of the United States and shall 
                 not cede this power to the President.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             January 23 (legislative day, January 3), 2013

   Mr. Roberts (for himself, Mr. Moran, Mr. Johanns, Mr. Johnson of 
 Wisconsin, and Mr. Cornyn) submitted the following resolution; which 
                was referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing the sense of the Senate that Congress holds the sole 
authority to borrow money on the credit of the United States and shall 
                 not cede this power to the President.

Whereas it is Congress' prerogative and duty to decide how much the Nation will 
        borrow and for what purposes;
Whereas Congress has the responsibility under the Constitution to regulate the 
        terms and conditions under which the Nation borrows funds;
Whereas Congress has the power and the obligation to ensure that payments are 
        made on the national debt;
Whereas Congress is directly accountable to the people concerning any tax and 
        spending burdens placed upon the public;
Whereas these Constitutional powers and responsibilities create an appropriate 
        check on the executive branch and preclude the President from raising 
        taxes and issuing debt;
Whereas, on November 29, 2012, the Secretary of the Treasury, on behalf of the 
        President, proposed that Congress should surrender its authority to 
        establish the debt limit of the United States to the executive branch; 
        and
Whereas for 6 decades Congress and the President have routinely used the 
        necessity of increasing the debt limit as a vehicle for debate and 
        broader reforms on the path of spending and future deficits: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that Congress--
            (1) should not relinquish its long utilized authority 
        vested in article 1, section 8 of the Constitution to ``borrow 
        money on the credit of the United States'' by refusing to 
        debate, amend, and vote on a bill to address the debt limit; 
        and
            (2) should not provide the executive branch with exclusive 
        power to issue debt on behalf of the United States Government.
                                 <all>