Bill Sponsor
Senate Joint Resolution 18
116th Congress(2019-2020)
A joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in Senate on Apr 4, 2019
Overview
Text
Sponsor
Introduced
Apr 4, 2019
Latest Action
Apr 4, 2019
Origin Chamber
Senate
Type
Joint Resolution
Joint Resolution
A form of legislative measure used to propose changes in law, or to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Depending on the chamber of origin, they begin with a designation of either H.J.Res. or S.J.Res. Concurrent resolutions and simple resolutions are other types of resolutions. Bill is another form of legislative measure used to propose law.
Bill Number
18
Congress
116
Policy Area
Economics and Public Finance
Economics and Public Finance
Primary focus of measure is budgetary matters such as appropriations, public debt, the budget process, government lending, government accounts and trust funds; monetary policy and inflation; economic development, performance, and economic theory.
Sponsorship by Party
Democrat
Montana
Democrat
West Virginia
Senate Votes (0)
House Votes (0)
No Senate votes have been held for this bill.
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,
  • receipts or outlays of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, and
  • outlays relating to a natural disaster if the law providing the funds explicitly exempts the funds from the requirement and is agreed to by a majority of each chamber of Congress.

The amendment requires the President to annually submit to Congress a budget in which total outlays do not exceed total receipts.

The amendment specifies exceptions to the requirements if a declaration of war is in effect, the United States is engaged in military conflict that causes an imminent and serious military threat to national security, economic growth is less than 0%, or the unemployment rate is more than 7%.

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.

Text (1)
Actions (2)
04/04/2019
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
04/04/2019
Introduced in Senate
Public Record
Record Updated
Nov 1, 2022 7:02:20 PM