Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB45 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 45
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	JANUARY9, 2025
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	$36,000,000,000,000, 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 55 of the last 60 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 2035, 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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57	57	•S 45 IS
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; 9
67	67	(3) the term ‘‘Member’’ includes a Delegate or 10
68	68	Resident Commissioner to Congress; and 11
69	69	(4) the ‘‘payroll administrator’’ of a House of 12
70	70	Congress means— 13
71	71	(A) in the case of the House of Represent-14
72	72	atives, the Chief Administrative Officer of the 15
73	73	House of Representatives, or an employee of 16
74	74	the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer 17
75	75	who is designated by the Chief Administrative 18
76	76	Officer to carry out this section; and 19
77	77	(B) in the case of the Senate, the Sec-20
78	78	retary of the Senate, or an employee of the Of-21
79	79	fice of the Secretary of the Senate who is des-22
80	80	ignated by the Secretary to carry out this sec-23
81	81	tion. 24
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84	84	•S 45 IS
85	85	(b) DETERMINATION BY THE OFFICE OFMANAGE-1
86	86	MENT ANDBUDGET.—Upon adoption by a House of Con-2
87	87	gress of a concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal 3
88	88	year, the Director shall— 4
89	89	(1) determine whether the concurrent resolution 5
90	90	on the budget is a balanced budget; and 6
91	91	(2) submit to the Speaker of the House of Rep-7
92	92	resentatives or the President pro tempore of the 8
93	93	Senate (as the case may be) a certification as to 9
94	94	whether or not that House of Congress has adopted 10
95	95	a balanced budget. 11
96	96	(c) R
97	97	ULE FORFISCALYEARS2026 AND2027.— 12
98	98	(1) F
99	99	ISCAL YEAR 2026.— 13
100	100	(A) H
101	101	OLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If 14
102	102	the Director does not certify that a House of 15
103	103	Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 16
104	104	respect to fiscal year 2026 before April 16, 17
105	105	2025, during the period described in subpara-18
106	106	graph (B) the payroll administrator of that 19
107	107	House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 20
108	108	account all payments otherwise required to be 21
109	109	made during such period for the compensation 22
110	110	of Members of Congress who serve in that 23
111	111	House of Congress, and shall release such pay-24
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114	114	•S 45 IS
115	115	ments to such Members only upon the expira-1
116	116	tion of such period. 2
117	117	(B) P
118	118	ERIOD DESCRIBED.—With respect to 3
119	119	a House of Congress, the period described in 4
120	120	this subparagraph is the period that begins on 5
121	121	April 16, 2025, and ends on the earlier of— 6
122	122	(i) the date on which the Director cer-7
123	123	tifies that the House of Congress has 8
124	124	adopted a balanced budget with respect to 9
125	125	fiscal year 2026; or 10
126	126	(ii) the last day of the One Hundred 11
127	127	Nineteenth Congress. 12
128	128	(2) F
129	129	ISCAL YEAR 2027.— 13
130	130	(A) H
131	131	OLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If 14
132	132	the Director does not certify that a House of 15
133	133	Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 16
134	134	respect to fiscal year 2027 before April 16, 17
135	135	2026, during the period described in subpara-18
136	136	graph (B) the payroll administrator of that 19
137	137	House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 20
138	138	account all payments otherwise required to be 21
139	139	made during such period for the compensation 22
140	140	of Members of Congress who serve in that 23
141	141	House of Congress, and shall release such pay-24
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145	145	ments to such Members only upon the expira-1
146	146	tion of such period. 2
147	147	(B) P
148	148	ERIOD DESCRIBED.—With respect to 3
149	149	a House of Congress, the period described in 4
150	150	this subparagraph is the period that begins on 5
151	151	April 16, 2026, and ends on the earlier of— 6
152	152	(i) the date on which the Director cer-7
153	153	tifies that the House of Congress has 8
154	154	adopted a balanced budget with respect to 9
155	155	fiscal year 2027; or 10
156	156	(ii) the last day of the One Hundred 11
157	157	Nineteenth Congress. 12
158	158	(3) W
159	159	ITHHOLDING AND REMITTANCE OF 13
160	160	AMOUNTS FROM PAYMENTS HELD IN ESCROW .—The 14
161	161	payroll administrator shall provide for the same 15
162	162	withholding and remittance with respect to a pay-16
163	163	ment deposited in an escrow account under para-17
164	164	graph (1) or (2) that would apply to the payment if 18
165	165	the payment were not subject to paragraph (1) or 19
166	166	(2). 20
167	167	(4) R
168	168	ELEASE OF AMOUNTS AT END OF THE 21
169	169	CONGRESS.—In order to ensure that this subsection 22
170	170	is carried out in a manner that shall not vary the 23
171	171	compensation of Senators or Representatives in vio-24
172	172	lation of the twenty-seventh amendment to the Con-25
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176	176	stitution of the United States, the payroll adminis-1
177	177	trator of a House of Congress shall release for pay-2
178	178	ments to Members of that House of Congress any 3
179	179	amounts remaining in any escrow account under this 4
180	180	section on the last day of the One Hundred Nine-5
181	181	teenth Congress. 6
182	182	(5) R
183	183	OLE OF SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY .— 7
184	184	The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the pay-8
185	185	roll administrators of the Houses of Congress with 9
186	186	such assistance as may be necessary to enable the 10
187	187	payroll administrators to carry out this subsection. 11
188	188	(d) R
189	189	ULE FORFISCALYEAR2028 ANDSUBSEQUENT 12
190	190	F
191	191	ISCALYEARS.—If the Director does not certify that a 13
192	192	House of Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 14
193	193	respect to fiscal year 2028, or any fiscal year thereafter, 15
194	194	before April 16 of the fiscal year before such fiscal year, 16
195	195	during pay periods which occur in the same calendar year 17
196	196	after that date each Member of that House shall be paid 18
197	197	at an annual rate of pay equal to $1. 19
198	198	SEC. 3. SUPERMAJORITY REQUIREMENT FOR INCREASING 20
199	199	REVENUE. 21
200	200	(a) I
201	201	NGENERAL.—In the Senate and the House of 22
202	202	Representatives, a bill, joint resolution, amendment, con-23
203	203	ference report, or amendment between the Houses that in-24
204	204	creases revenue shall only be agreed to upon an affirma-25
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207	207	•S 45 IS
208	208	tive vote of three-fifths of the Members of that House of 1
209	209	Congress duly chosen and sworn. 2
210	210	(b) R
211	211	ULES OFSENATE AND THE HOUSE OFREP-3
212	212	RESENTATIVES.—Subsection (a) is enacted by Congress— 4
213	213	(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 5
214	214	the Senate and House of Representatives, respec-6
215	215	tively, and as such it is deemed a part of the rules 7
216	216	of each House, respectively, but applicable only with 8
217	217	respect to the procedure to be followed in that 9
218	218	House in the case of a bill, joint resolution, amend-10
219	219	ment, conference report, or amendment between the 11
220	220	Houses that increases revenue, and it supersedes 12
221	221	other rules only to the extent that it is inconsistent 13
222	222	with such rules; and 14
223	223	(2) with full recognition of the constitutional 15
224	224	right of either House to change the rules (so far as 16
225	225	relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 17
226	226	in the same manner, and to the same extent as in 18
227	227	the case of any other rule of that House. 19
228	228	Æ
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