II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 45
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
JANUARY9, 2025
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
$36,000,000,000,000, 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 55 of the last 60 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 2035, 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; 9
(3) the term ‘‘Member’’ includes a Delegate or 10
Resident Commissioner to Congress; and 11
(4) the ‘‘payroll administrator’’ of a House of 12
Congress means— 13
(A) in the case of the House of Represent-14
atives, the Chief Administrative Officer of the 15
House of Representatives, or an employee of 16
the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer 17
who is designated by the Chief Administrative 18
Officer to carry out this section; and 19
(B) in the case of the Senate, the Sec-20
retary of the Senate, or an employee of the Of-21
fice of the Secretary of the Senate who is des-22
ignated by the Secretary to carry out this sec-23
tion. 24
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(b) DETERMINATION BY THE OFFICE OFMANAGE-1
MENT ANDBUDGET.—Upon adoption by a House of Con-2
gress of a concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal 3
year, the Director shall— 4
(1) determine whether the concurrent resolution 5
on the budget is a balanced budget; and 6
(2) submit to the Speaker of the House of Rep-7
resentatives or the President pro tempore of the 8
Senate (as the case may be) a certification as to 9
whether or not that House of Congress has adopted 10
a balanced budget. 11
(c) R
ULE FORFISCALYEARS2026 AND2027.— 12
(1) F
ISCAL YEAR 2026.— 13
(A) H
OLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If 14
the Director does not certify that a House of 15
Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 16
respect to fiscal year 2026 before April 16, 17
2025, during the period described in subpara-18
graph (B) the payroll administrator of that 19
House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 20
account all payments otherwise required to be 21
made during such period for the compensation 22
of Members of Congress who serve in that 23
House of Congress, and shall release such pay-24
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ments to such Members only upon the expira-1
tion of such period. 2
(B) P
ERIOD DESCRIBED.—With respect to 3
a House of Congress, the period described in 4
this subparagraph is the period that begins on 5
April 16, 2025, and ends on the earlier of— 6
(i) the date on which the Director cer-7
tifies that the House of Congress has 8
adopted a balanced budget with respect to 9
fiscal year 2026; or 10
(ii) the last day of the One Hundred 11
Nineteenth Congress. 12
(2) F
ISCAL YEAR 2027.— 13
(A) H
OLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If 14
the Director does not certify that a House of 15
Congress has adopted a balanced budget with 16
respect to fiscal year 2027 before April 16, 17
2026, during the period described in subpara-18
graph (B) the payroll administrator of that 19
House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 20
account all payments otherwise required to be 21
made during such period for the compensation 22
of Members of Congress who serve in that 23
House of Congress, and shall release such pay-24
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ments to such Members only upon the expira-1
tion of such period. 2
(B) P
ERIOD DESCRIBED.—With respect to 3
a House of Congress, the period described in 4
this subparagraph is the period that begins on 5
April 16, 2026, and ends on the earlier of— 6
(i) the date on which the Director cer-7
tifies that the House of Congress has 8
adopted a balanced budget with respect to 9
fiscal year 2027; or 10
(ii) the last day of the One Hundred 11
Nineteenth Congress. 12
(3) W
ITHHOLDING AND REMITTANCE OF 13
AMOUNTS FROM PAYMENTS HELD IN ESCROW .—The 14
payroll administrator shall provide for the same 15
withholding and remittance with respect to a pay-16
ment deposited in an escrow account under para-17
graph (1) or (2) that would apply to the payment if 18
the payment were not subject to paragraph (1) or 19
(2). 20
(4) R
ELEASE OF AMOUNTS AT END OF THE 21
CONGRESS.—In order to ensure that this subsection 22
is carried out in a manner that shall not vary the 23
compensation of Senators or Representatives in vio-24
lation of the twenty-seventh amendment to the Con-25
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stitution of the United States, the payroll adminis-1
trator of a House of Congress shall release for pay-2
ments to Members of that House of Congress any 3
amounts remaining in any escrow account under this 4
section on the last day of the One Hundred Nine-5
teenth Congress. 6
(5) R
OLE OF SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY .— 7
The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the pay-8
roll administrators of the Houses of Congress with 9
such assistance as may be necessary to enable the 10
payroll administrators to carry out this subsection. 11
(d) R
ULE FORFISCALYEAR2028 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 2028, 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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