[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 74 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. J. RES. 74

 Proposing a spending limitation amendment to the Constitution of the 
                             United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 2, 1999

   Mr. Smith of Michigan (for himself, Mr. Barton of Texas, and Mr. 
   Rohrabacher) introduced the following joint resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
 Proposing a spending limitation amendment to the Constitution of the 
                             United States.

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House 
concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be 
valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when 
ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States 
within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

                              ``Article--

    ``Section 1. Except as provided in this article, total outlays of 
the United States Government in any fiscal year shall not exceed 19 per 
centum of the gross domestic product in the last calendar year ending 
before the fiscal year for which this limitation is being calculated.
    ``Section 2. Before each fiscal year, the President shall transmit 
to Congress a proposed statement of outlays for such fiscal year 
consistent with the provisions of this article.
    ``Section 3. Following the declaration of an emergency by the 
President, Congress may authorize, by a two-thirds vote of both Houses, 
a specified amount of emergency outlays in excess of the limit for the 
current fiscal year.
    ``Section 4. For each of the first 4 fiscal years beginning after 
ratification of this article, total grants to States and local 
governments shall not be a smaller fraction of total outlays than the 
average of the 3 fiscal years before the ratification of this article.
    ``Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation.
    ``Section 6. This article may be enforced by one or more Members of 
Congress or by the President in an action brought in the United States 
District Court for the District of Columbia, and by no other person. 
The action shall name as defendant the Treasurer of the United States, 
who shall have authority over outlays by any unit or agency of the 
Government of the United States when required by a court order 
enforcing the provisions of this article. The order of the court shall 
not specify the particular outlays to be made or reduced. Changes in 
outlays necessary to comply with the order of the court shall be made 
no later than the end of the first full fiscal year following the court 
order.
    ``Section 7. This article shall take effect for the first fiscal 
year beginning after its ratification.''.
                                 <all>