II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 6
To reduce a portion of the annual pay of Members of Congress for the
failure to adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget which does not
provide for a balanced budget, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY23 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023
Mr. D
AINESintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To reduce a portion of the annual pay of Members of Con-
gress for the failure to adopt a concurrent resolution
on the budget which does not provide for a balanced
budget, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Balanced Budget Accountability Act’’. 5
(b) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 6
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(1) The Federal debt exceeds 1
$31,000,000,000,000, continues to grow rapidly, and 2
is larger than the size of the United States economy. 3
(2) The Federal budget has shown an annual 4
deficit in 53 of the last 58 years. 5
(3) Deficits and the Federal debt threaten to 6
shatter confidence in the Nation’s economy, suppress 7
job creation and economic growth, and leave future 8
generations of Americans with a lower standard of 9
living and fewer opportunities. 10
(4) It is the duty of Members of Congress to 11
develop and implement policies, including balancing 12
the Federal budget, that encourage robust job cre-13
ation and economic growth in the United States. 14
(5) Members of Congress should be held ac-15
countable for failing to pass annual budgets that re-16
sult in a balanced budget. 17
SEC. 2. EFFECT OF FAILURE TO ADOPT RESOLUTION PRO-18
VIDING FOR BALANCED BUDGETS. 19
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 20
(1) the term ‘‘balanced budget’’ means a con-21
current resolution on the budget which provides that 22
for fiscal year 2033, and each fiscal year thereafter 23
to which the concurrent resolution on the budget ap-24
plies— 25
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(A) total outlays do not exceed total re-1
ceipts; and 2
(B) total outlays are not more than 18 3
percent of the projected gross domestic product 4
of the United States (as determined by the Bu-5
reau of Economic Analysis of the Department 6
of Commerce) for such fiscal year; 7
(2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 8
the Office of Management and Budget; and 9
(3) the term ‘‘Member’’ includes a Delegate or 10
Resident Commissioner to Congress. 11
(b) D
ETERMINATION BY THE OFFICE OFMANAGE-12
MENT ANDBUDGET.—Upon adoption by a House of Con-13
gress of a concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal 14
year, the Director shall— 15
(1) determine whether the concurrent resolution 16
on the budget is a balanced budget; and 17
(2) submit to the Speaker of the House of Rep-18
resentatives or the President pro tempore of the 19
Senate (as the case may be) a certification as to 20
whether or not that House of Congress has adopted 21
a balanced budget. 22
(c) R
ULE FORFISCALYEARS2024 AND2025.— 23
(1) F
ISCAL YEAR 2024.— 24
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(A) HOLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If 1
the Director does not certify that a House of 2
Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 3
respect to fiscal year 2024 before April 16, 4
2023, during the period described in subpara-5
graph (B) the payroll administrator of that 6
House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 7
account all payments otherwise required to be 8
made during such period for the compensation 9
of Members of Congress who serve in that 10
House of Congress, and shall release such pay-11
ments to such Members only upon the expira-12
tion of such period. 13
(B) P
ERIOD DESCRIBED.—With respect to 14
a House of Congress, the period described in 15
this subparagraph is the period that begins on 16
April 16, 2023, and ends on the earlier of— 17
(i) the date on which the Director cer-18
tifies that the House of Congress has 19
adopted a balanced budget with respect to 20
fiscal year 2024; or 21
(ii) the last day of the One Hundred 22
Eighteenth Congress. 23
(2) F
ISCAL YEAR 2025.— 24
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(A) HOLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If 1
the Director does not certify that a House of 2
Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 3
respect to fiscal year 2025 before April 16, 4
2024, during the period described in subpara-5
graph (B) the payroll administrator of that 6
House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 7
account all payments otherwise required to be 8
made during such period for the compensation 9
of Members of Congress who serve in that 10
House of Congress, and shall release such pay-11
ments to such Members only upon the expira-12
tion of such period. 13
(B) P
ERIOD DESCRIBED.—With respect to 14
a House of Congress, the period described in 15
this subparagraph is the period that begins on 16
April 16, 2024, and ends on the earlier of— 17
(i) the date on which the Director cer-18
tifies that the House of Congress has 19
adopted a balanced budget with respect to 20
fiscal year 2025; or 21
(ii) the last day of the One Hundred 22
Eighteenth Congress. 23
(3) W
ITHHOLDING AND REMITTANCE OF 24
AMOUNTS FROM PAYMENTS HELD IN ESCROW .—The 25
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payroll administrator shall provide for the same 1
withholding and remittance with respect to a pay-2
ment deposited in an escrow account under para-3
graph (1) or (2) that would apply to the payment if 4
the payment were not subject to paragraph (1) or 5
(2). 6
(4) R
ELEASE OF AMOUNTS AT END OF THE 7
CONGRESS.—In order to ensure that this subsection 8
is carried out in a manner that shall not vary the 9
compensation of Senators or Representatives in vio-10
lation of the twenty-seventh amendment to the Con-11
stitution of the United States, the payroll adminis-12
trator of a House of Congress shall release for pay-13
ments to Members of that House of Congress any 14
amounts remaining in any escrow account under this 15
section on the last day of the One Hundred Eight-16
eenth Congress. 17
(5) R
OLE OF SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY .— 18
The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the pay-19
roll administrators of the Houses of Congress with 20
such assistance as may be necessary to enable the 21
payroll administrators to carry out this subsection. 22
(6) P
AYROLL ADMINISTRATOR DEFINED .—In 23
this subsection, the ‘‘payroll administrator’’ of a 24
House of Congress means— 25
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(A) in the case of the House of Represent-1
atives, the Chief Administrative Officer of the 2
House of Representatives, or an employee of 3
the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer 4
who is designated by the Chief Administrative 5
Officer to carry out this section; and 6
(B) in the case of the Senate, the Sec-7
retary of the Senate, or an employee of the Of-8
fice of the Secretary of the Senate who is des-9
ignated by the Secretary to carry out this sec-10
tion. 11
(d) R
ULE FORFISCALYEAR2026 ANDSUBSEQUENT 12
F
ISCALYEARS.—If the Director does not certify that a 13
House of Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 14
respect to fiscal year 2026, or any fiscal year thereafter, 15
before April 16 of the fiscal year before such fiscal year, 16
during pay periods which occur in the same calendar year 17
after that date each Member of that House shall be paid 18
at an annual rate of pay equal to $1. 19
SEC. 3. SUPERMAJORITY REQUIREMENT FOR INCREASING 20
REVENUE. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In the Senate and the House of 22
Representatives, a bill, joint resolution, amendment, con-23
ference report, or amendment between the Houses that in-24
creases revenue shall only be agreed to upon an affirma-25
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tive vote of three-fifths of the Members of that House of 1
Congress duly chosen and sworn. 2
(b) R
ULES OFSENATE AND THE HOUSE OFREP-3
RESENTATIVES.—Subsection (a) is enacted by Congress— 4
(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 5
the Senate and House of Representatives, respec-6
tively, and as such it is deemed a part of the rules 7
of each House, respectively, but applicable only with 8
respect to the procedure to be followed in that 9
House in the case of a bill, joint resolution, amend-10
ment, conference report, or amendment between the 11
Houses that increases revenue, and it supersedes 12
other rules only to the extent that it is inconsistent 13
with such rules; and 14
(2) with full recognition of the constitutional 15
right of either House to change the rules (so far as 16
relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 17
in the same manner, and to the same extent as in 18
the case of any other rule of that House. 19
Æ
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