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H.R. 182 119th Congress House

Default Prevention Act

Official title: To ensure the payment of interest and principal of the debt of the United States.

Introduced: January 3, 2025 Introduced by: Tom McClintock Republican · California See on congress.gov
Economics and Public Finance Budget deficits and national debtCongressional oversightDisability assistanceGovernment trust fundsSocial security and elderly assistance
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 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Jan 3, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Jan 3, 2025
Introduced in House
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What's happening now January 3, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Default Prevention Act

This bill exempts certain obligations of the federal government from the statutory debt limit and establishes requirements for paying and prioritizing obligations after the debt limit is reached.

If the debt limit is reached, the bill requires the Department of the Treasury to continue issuing debt and making payments necessary to (1) pay the principal and interest on debt held by the public, the Social Security trust funds, and the Medicare trust funds; and (2) pay Medicare benefits. The bill also exempts these obligations from the debt limit until the debt limit has been modified or suspended. 

The bill also establishes requirements for prioritizing the remaining obligations after the debt limit has been reached. Specifically, Treasury may not

  • pay any remaining obligations unless it can still pay obligations of the Department of Defense and any obligations necessary to provide benefits under laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs;
  • pay obligations related to the compensation of federal employees for official time; government travel for executive branch officers or employees; and the compensation of the President, the Vice President, and other members of the executive branch (other than individuals in the competitive service) unless all other obligations except for compensation of Members of Congress can still be paid; and
  • compensate Members of Congress unless all other obligations can still be paid.

Finally, the bill requires Treasury to provide weekly reports to Congress regarding new debt issued and obligations that have been paid or not paid under the bill.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 7

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

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 Cosponsors 1
All 1 Republican 1
R
Grothman, Glenn
Wisconsin · Jan 9, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 182: Default Prevention Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-182/
MLA
"H.R. 182: Default Prevention Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-182/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 182, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-182/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 182: Default Prevention Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-182/)
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