| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 37 |
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| 5 | 5 | | Proposing a Federal debt limit amendment to the Constitution of the United |
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| 6 | 6 | | States. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | JANUARY3, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. Y |
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| 10 | 10 | | AKYMintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee |
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| 11 | 11 | | on the Judiciary |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | Proposing a Federal debt limit amendment to the |
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| 14 | 14 | | Constitution of the United States. |
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| 15 | 15 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 16 | 16 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 17 | 17 | | That the following article is proposed as an amendment 3 |
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| 18 | 18 | | to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be 4 |
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| 19 | 19 | | valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitu-5 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tion when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of 6 |
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| 21 | 21 | | the several States within 7 years after the date of its sub-7 |
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| 22 | 22 | | mission for ratification: 8 |
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| 23 | 23 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:24 Jan 30, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H37.IH H37 |
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| 24 | 24 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | •HR 37 IH |
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| 26 | 26 | | ‘‘ARTICLE— 1 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ‘‘S |
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| 28 | 28 | | ECTION1. Total amount of debt, including debt 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | held by the public and intragovernmental debt, of the 3 |
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| 30 | 30 | | United States Government may not be greater than 130 4 |
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| 31 | 31 | | percent of the Gross Domestic Product of the United 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | States during the first fiscal year this article is in effect. 6 |
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| 33 | 33 | | Each subsequent fiscal year the limitation in the previous 7 |
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| 34 | 34 | | sentence shall be reduced by 1 percent until such limita-8 |
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| 35 | 35 | | tion is equal to 120 percent, which shall then be the limita-9 |
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| 36 | 36 | | tion for purposes of this section for each subsequent fiscal 10 |
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| 37 | 37 | | year. 11 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ‘‘S |
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| 39 | 39 | | ECTION2. Total Federal debt, including debt held 12 |
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| 40 | 40 | | by the public and intragovernmental debt, may not exceed 13 |
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| 41 | 41 | | the levels prescribed under section 1 unless three-fifths of 14 |
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| 42 | 42 | | the whole number of each House of Congress shall provide 15 |
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| 43 | 43 | | by law for a specific excess of such debt for specified rea-16 |
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| 44 | 44 | | sons by a rollcall vote each fiscal year. 17 |
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| 45 | 45 | | ‘‘S |
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| 46 | 46 | | ECTION3. Prior to each fiscal year, the President 18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | shall transmit to the Congress a proposed budget for the 19 |
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| 48 | 48 | | United States Government for that fiscal year, and the 20 |
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| 49 | 49 | | subsequent 5-year period, in which total debt does not ex-21 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ceed the limit set forth in section 1. 22 |
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| 51 | 51 | | ‘‘S |
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| 52 | 52 | | ECTION4. The Congress may waive the provisions 23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | of this article in connection with defense spending for any 24 |
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| 54 | 54 | | fiscal year in which a declaration of war is in effect. The 25 |
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| 56 | 56 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •HR 37 IH |
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| 58 | 58 | | provisions of this article may be waived for any fiscal year 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | in which the United States is directly engaged in military 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | conflict which causes an imminent and serious military 3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | threat to national security and is so declared by a joint 4 |
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| 62 | 62 | | resolution, adopted by a majority of the whole number of 5 |
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| 63 | 63 | | each House, which becomes law. Any such waiver must 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | identify and be limited to the specific excess or increase 7 |
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| 65 | 65 | | for that fiscal year made necessary by the identified mili-8 |
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| 66 | 66 | | tary conflict. 9 |
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| 67 | 67 | | ‘‘S |
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| 68 | 68 | | ECTION5. The Congress shall implement and en-10 |
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| 69 | 69 | | force this article by appropriate legislation, which may rely 11 |
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| 70 | 70 | | on estimates of outlays and receipts. 12 |
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| 71 | 71 | | ‘‘S |
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| 72 | 72 | | ECTION6. For purposes of this article, Gross Do-13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | mestic Product shall be the sum of personal consumption 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | expenditures, investment, government spending, and net 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | exports, and shall be determined by the Bureau of Eco-16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | nomic Analysis or any successor agency. 17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | ‘‘S |
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| 78 | 78 | | ECTION7. This article shall take effect beginning 18 |
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| 79 | 79 | | with the third fiscal year beginning after its ratification.’’. 19 |
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| 80 | 80 | | Æ |
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| 82 | 82 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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