Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB6 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 6
5	5	To reduce a portion of the annual pay of Members of Congress for the
6	6	failure to adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget which does not
7	7	provide for a balanced budget, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	JANUARY23 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023
10	10	Mr. D
11	11	AINESintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
12	12	to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To reduce a portion of the annual pay of Members of Con-
15	15	gress for the failure to adopt a concurrent resolution
16	16	on the budget which does not provide for a balanced
17	17	budget, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 3
21	21	(a) S
22	22	HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
23	23	‘‘Balanced Budget Accountability Act’’. 5
24	24	(b) F
25	25	INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 6
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29	29	(1) The Federal debt exceeds 1
30	30	$31,000,000,000,000, continues to grow rapidly, and 2
31	31	is larger than the size of the United States economy. 3
32	32	(2) The Federal budget has shown an annual 4
33	33	deficit in 53 of the last 58 years. 5
34	34	(3) Deficits and the Federal debt threaten to 6
35	35	shatter confidence in the Nation’s economy, suppress 7
36	36	job creation and economic growth, and leave future 8
37	37	generations of Americans with a lower standard of 9
38	38	living and fewer opportunities. 10
39	39	(4) It is the duty of Members of Congress to 11
40	40	develop and implement policies, including balancing 12
41	41	the Federal budget, that encourage robust job cre-13
42	42	ation and economic growth in the United States. 14
43	43	(5) Members of Congress should be held ac-15
44	44	countable for failing to pass annual budgets that re-16
45	45	sult in a balanced budget. 17
46	46	SEC. 2. EFFECT OF FAILURE TO ADOPT RESOLUTION PRO-18
47	47	VIDING FOR BALANCED BUDGETS. 19
48	48	(a) D
49	49	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 20
50	50	(1) the term ‘‘balanced budget’’ means a con-21
51	51	current resolution on the budget which provides that 22
52	52	for fiscal year 2033, and each fiscal year thereafter 23
53	53	to which the concurrent resolution on the budget ap-24
54	54	plies— 25
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58	58	(A) total outlays do not exceed total re-1
59	59	ceipts; and 2
60	60	(B) total outlays are not more than 18 3
61	61	percent of the projected gross domestic product 4
62	62	of the United States (as determined by the Bu-5
63	63	reau of Economic Analysis of the Department 6
64	64	of Commerce) for such fiscal year; 7
65	65	(2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 8
66	66	the Office of Management and Budget; and 9
67	67	(3) the term ‘‘Member’’ includes a Delegate or 10
68	68	Resident Commissioner to Congress. 11
69	69	(b) D
70	70	ETERMINATION BY THE OFFICE OFMANAGE-12
71	71	MENT ANDBUDGET.—Upon adoption by a House of Con-13
72	72	gress of a concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal 14
73	73	year, the Director shall— 15
74	74	(1) determine whether the concurrent resolution 16
75	75	on the budget is a balanced budget; and 17
76	76	(2) submit to the Speaker of the House of Rep-18
77	77	resentatives or the President pro tempore of the 19
78	78	Senate (as the case may be) a certification as to 20
79	79	whether or not that House of Congress has adopted 21
80	80	a balanced budget. 22
81	81	(c) R
82	82	ULE FORFISCALYEARS2024 AND2025.— 23
83	83	(1) F
84	84	ISCAL YEAR 2024.— 24
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88	88	(A) HOLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If 1
89	89	the Director does not certify that a House of 2
90	90	Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 3
91	91	respect to fiscal year 2024 before April 16, 4
92	92	2023, during the period described in subpara-5
93	93	graph (B) the payroll administrator of that 6
94	94	House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 7
95	95	account all payments otherwise required to be 8
96	96	made during such period for the compensation 9
97	97	of Members of Congress who serve in that 10
98	98	House of Congress, and shall release such pay-11
99	99	ments to such Members only upon the expira-12
100	100	tion of such period. 13
101	101	(B) P
102	102	ERIOD DESCRIBED.—With respect to 14
103	103	a House of Congress, the period described in 15
104	104	this subparagraph is the period that begins on 16
105	105	April 16, 2023, and ends on the earlier of— 17
106	106	(i) the date on which the Director cer-18
107	107	tifies that the House of Congress has 19
108	108	adopted a balanced budget with respect to 20
109	109	fiscal year 2024; or 21
110	110	(ii) the last day of the One Hundred 22
111	111	Eighteenth Congress. 23
112	112	(2) F
113	113	ISCAL YEAR 2025.— 24
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117	117	(A) HOLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If 1
118	118	the Director does not certify that a House of 2
119	119	Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 3
120	120	respect to fiscal year 2025 before April 16, 4
121	121	2024, during the period described in subpara-5
122	122	graph (B) the payroll administrator of that 6
123	123	House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 7
124	124	account all payments otherwise required to be 8
125	125	made during such period for the compensation 9
126	126	of Members of Congress who serve in that 10
127	127	House of Congress, and shall release such pay-11
128	128	ments to such Members only upon the expira-12
129	129	tion of such period. 13
130	130	(B) P
131	131	ERIOD DESCRIBED.—With respect to 14
132	132	a House of Congress, the period described in 15
133	133	this subparagraph is the period that begins on 16
134	134	April 16, 2024, and ends on the earlier of— 17
135	135	(i) the date on which the Director cer-18
136	136	tifies that the House of Congress has 19
137	137	adopted a balanced budget with respect to 20
138	138	fiscal year 2025; or 21
139	139	(ii) the last day of the One Hundred 22
140	140	Eighteenth Congress. 23
141	141	(3) W
142	142	ITHHOLDING AND REMITTANCE OF 24
143	143	AMOUNTS FROM PAYMENTS HELD IN ESCROW .—The 25
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147	147	payroll administrator shall provide for the same 1
148	148	withholding and remittance with respect to a pay-2
149	149	ment deposited in an escrow account under para-3
150	150	graph (1) or (2) that would apply to the payment if 4
151	151	the payment were not subject to paragraph (1) or 5
152	152	(2). 6
153	153	(4) R
154	154	ELEASE OF AMOUNTS AT END OF THE 7
155	155	CONGRESS.—In order to ensure that this subsection 8
156	156	is carried out in a manner that shall not vary the 9
157	157	compensation of Senators or Representatives in vio-10
158	158	lation of the twenty-seventh amendment to the Con-11
159	159	stitution of the United States, the payroll adminis-12
160	160	trator of a House of Congress shall release for pay-13
161	161	ments to Members of that House of Congress any 14
162	162	amounts remaining in any escrow account under this 15
163	163	section on the last day of the One Hundred Eight-16
164	164	eenth Congress. 17
165	165	(5) R
166	166	OLE OF SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY .— 18
167	167	The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the pay-19
168	168	roll administrators of the Houses of Congress with 20
169	169	such assistance as may be necessary to enable the 21
170	170	payroll administrators to carry out this subsection. 22
171	171	(6) P
172	172	AYROLL ADMINISTRATOR DEFINED .—In 23
173	173	this subsection, the ‘‘payroll administrator’’ of a 24
174	174	House of Congress means— 25
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178	178	(A) in the case of the House of Represent-1
179	179	atives, the Chief Administrative Officer of the 2
180	180	House of Representatives, or an employee of 3
181	181	the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer 4
182	182	who is designated by the Chief Administrative 5
183	183	Officer to carry out this section; and 6
184	184	(B) in the case of the Senate, the Sec-7
185	185	retary of the Senate, or an employee of the Of-8
186	186	fice of the Secretary of the Senate who is des-9
187	187	ignated by the Secretary to carry out this sec-10
188	188	tion. 11
189	189	(d) R
190	190	ULE FORFISCALYEAR2026 ANDSUBSEQUENT 12
191	191	F
192	192	ISCALYEARS.—If the Director does not certify that a 13
193	193	House of Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 14
194	194	respect to fiscal year 2026, or any fiscal year thereafter, 15
195	195	before April 16 of the fiscal year before such fiscal year, 16
196	196	during pay periods which occur in the same calendar year 17
197	197	after that date each Member of that House shall be paid 18
198	198	at an annual rate of pay equal to $1. 19
199	199	SEC. 3. SUPERMAJORITY REQUIREMENT FOR INCREASING 20
200	200	REVENUE. 21
201	201	(a) I
202	202	NGENERAL.—In the Senate and the House of 22
203	203	Representatives, a bill, joint resolution, amendment, con-23
204	204	ference report, or amendment between the Houses that in-24
205	205	creases revenue shall only be agreed to upon an affirma-25
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209	209	tive vote of three-fifths of the Members of that House of 1
210	210	Congress duly chosen and sworn. 2
211	211	(b) R
212	212	ULES OFSENATE AND THE HOUSE OFREP-3
213	213	RESENTATIVES.—Subsection (a) is enacted by Congress— 4
214	214	(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 5
215	215	the Senate and House of Representatives, respec-6
216	216	tively, and as such it is deemed a part of the rules 7
217	217	of each House, respectively, but applicable only with 8
218	218	respect to the procedure to be followed in that 9
219	219	House in the case of a bill, joint resolution, amend-10
220	220	ment, conference report, or amendment between the 11
221	221	Houses that increases revenue, and it supersedes 12
222	222	other rules only to the extent that it is inconsistent 13
223	223	with such rules; and 14
224	224	(2) with full recognition of the constitutional 15
225	225	right of either House to change the rules (so far as 16
226	226	relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 17
227	227	in the same manner, and to the same extent as in 18
228	228	the case of any other rule of that House. 19
229	229	Æ
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