[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 329 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 329

 To provide that pay for Members of Congress shall be reduced whenever 
 total expenditures of the Federal Government exceed total receipts in 
                any fiscal year, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 13, 1997

  Mr. Abraham introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
           referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide that pay for Members of Congress shall be reduced whenever 
 total expenditures of the Federal Government exceed total receipts in 
                any fiscal year, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Congressional Fiscal Responsibility 
Incentive Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. PROVISIONS RELATING TO MEMBERS' PAY.

    (a) In General.--Section 601(a) of the Legislative Reorganization 
Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 31) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
            ``(3)(A) For purposes of this paragraph, any determination 
        as to whether total receipts of the Federal Government are 
        greater than, less than, or equal to its total expenditures in 
        a fiscal year shall be determined using total public 
        expenditures, respectively, as indicated in the report 
        submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury to the Congress 
        under section 331(c) of title 31, United States Code, for such 
        year.
            ``(B) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this 
        subsection, whenever the total expenditures of the Federal 
        Government exceed its total receipts for a fiscal year, the 
        annual rate of pay for each position under paragraph (1) (A) 
        through (C) shall be reduced by 10 percent, effective as of the 
        first applicable pay period beginning on or after the date as 
        of which Congress receives the report (referred to in 
        subparagraph (A)) relating to such fiscal year.
            ``(C) Effective as of the first applicable pay period 
        beginning on or after the date as of which Congress receives a 
        report (referred to in subparagraph (A)) indicating that total 
        receipts of the Federal Government are greater than or equal to 
        its total expenditures for a fiscal year--
                    ``(i) all reductions under subparagraph (B) then in 
                effect shall be disregarded; and
                    ``(ii) pay for each position under paragraph (1) 
                (A) through (C) shall be restored to the level which 
                would then be in effect for such position if this 
                paragraph had never been enacted.
            ``(D) A pay adjustment under subparagraph (B) or (C) shall 
        be made before any other adjustment otherwise scheduled to take 
        effect on the same day for the same position.''.
    (b) Procedures.--(1) It shall not be in order in either the House 
of Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill or resolution 
which would increase the rate of basic pay for the Members of Congress 
(excluding any bill or resolution to which section 225(i) of the 
Federal Salary Act of 1967 (2 U.S.C. 359) applies) unless that bill or 
resolution deals with no subject matter other than a pay increase for 
Members.
    (2) Any bill or resolution which is subject to paragraph (1) may be 
passed or adopted, as the case may be, by the House of Representatives 
or the Senate only by a vote recorded so as to reflect the vote of each 
Member voting.
    (3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) are enacted by Congress--
            (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House of 
        Representatives and the Senate, respectively, and such rules 
        shall supersede other rules only to the extent that they are 
        inconsistent therewith; and
            (B) with full recognition of the constitutional right of 
        each House to change such rules (so far as relating to such 
        House) at any time, in such manner, and to the same extent as 
        in the case of any other rule of such House.
    (c) Effective Date.--(1) This Act and the amendments made by this 
Act shall--
            (A) take effect on October 1 of the first fiscal year 
        following the fiscal year in which this Act is enacted; and
            (B) shall first apply to the first fiscal year following 
        the fiscal year in which this Act is enacted.
    (2) This Act shall have no force or effect on and after the date of 
passage by both Houses of the Congress of a proposed amendment to the 
United States Constitution that requires that the total budgetary 
outlays of the United States in any fiscal year may not exceed the 
total receipts in such fiscal year.
                                 <all>