Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Latest action · Jun 29, 2017 Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.
Progress
Where this resolution reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 29, 2017
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Constitutional Amendment
This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment prohibiting total outlays for a fiscal year from exceeding total receipts for that fiscal year unless Congress authorizes the excess by a three-fifths roll call vote of each chamber.
The prohibition excludes outlays for repayment of debt principal, receipts derived from borrowing, and receipts or outlays of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
The amendment requires the President to annually submit to Congress a budget in which total outlays do not exceed total receipts.
The balanced budget requirement does not apply if:
- a declaration of war is in effect or if the United States is engaged in military conflict which causes an imminent and serious military threat to national security, or
- during the fiscal year or preceding fiscal year, the U.S. economy grew by less than 0% in real gross domestic product during two or more consecutive quarters or the unemployment rate was more than 7% during two or more consecutive months.
The amendment prohibits a court from enforcing the requirements by ordering cuts to Social Security or Medicare payments unless the funds available to the trust fund for a program are not sufficient to cover the outlays that would occur during the year if the fund were fully solvent.
Cosponsors 13
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 29, 2017 to Jul 12, 2018, with 5 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-CA | J. Luis Correa | Original | Jun 29, 2017 |
| D-TN | Jim Cooper | Original | Jun 29, 2017 |
| D-CA | Jim Costa | Original | Jun 29, 2017 |
| D-OR | Kurt Schrader | Original | Jun 29, 2017 |
| D-AZ | Kyrsten Sinema | Original | Jun 29, 2017 |
| D-TX | Henry Cuellar | Jul 12, 2017 | |
| D-MN | Collin C. Peterson | Jul 13, 2017 | |
| D-NJ | Josh Gottheimer | Jul 18, 2017 | |
| D-GA | Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. | Jul 19, 2017 | |
| D-NV | Jacky Rosen | Apr 11, 2018 | |
| D-NY | Thomas R. Suozzi | Apr 11, 2018 | |
| D-FL | Charlie Crist | Apr 12, 2018 | |
| D-AZ | Tom O'Halleran | Jul 12, 2018 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 29, 2017Introduced in House
- Jun 29, 2017Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Jun 29, 2017Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.
- Jun 29, 2017Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H5361-5362)
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| SJRES 39 | A joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States. | Related bill | Mar 30, 2017 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Economics and Public Finance.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 29, 2017Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this resolution on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.