[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4268 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4268

Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United 
                                States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 7, 2024

  Mr. Tester introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United 
                                States.

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

                              ``Article --

    ``Section 1. Total outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed 
total receipts for that fiscal year, unless three-fifths of the whole 
number of each House of Congress shall provide by law for a specific 
excess of outlays over receipts by a roll call vote.
    ``Section 2. Prior to each fiscal year, the President shall 
transmit to the Congress a proposed budget for the United States 
Government for that fiscal year in which total outlays do not exceed 
total receipts.
    ``Section 3. Sections 1 and 2 of this article shall not apply 
during any fiscal year in which a declaration of war is in effect or in 
which the United States is engaged in military conflict which causes an 
imminent and serious military threat to national security and is so 
declared by a joint resolution, adopted by a majority of the whole 
number of each House, which becomes law.
    ``Section 4. Section 1 of this article shall not apply during a 
fiscal year if, during that fiscal year or the preceding fiscal year, 
the economy of the United States grew by less than an annualized rate 
of 0.0 percent in real gross domestic product during 2 or more 
consecutive quarters or the unemployment rate was more than 7 percent 
during 2 or more consecutive months.
    ``Section 2 of this article shall not apply to a fiscal year if, 
during the 1-year period ending on the date on which the President 
transmits to Congress a proposed budget for the United States 
Government for that fiscal year, the economy of the United States grew 
by less than an annualized rate of 0.0 percent in real gross domestic 
product during 2 or more consecutive quarters or the unemployment rate 
was more than 7 percent during 2 or more consecutive months.
    ``Section 5. Congress shall enforce and implement this article by 
appropriate legislation, which may rely on estimates of outlays and 
receipts.
    ``Section 6. Except as provided in the second and third clauses, 
total receipts shall include all receipts of the United States 
Government other than those derived from borrowing, and total outlays 
shall include all outlays of the United States Government other than 
those for repayment of debt principal.
    ``For each fiscal year, the receipts (including attributable 
interest) and outlays of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance 
Trust Fund, the Federal Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, the 
Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, or any fund that is a 
successor to any such fund, shall not be considered to be receipts or 
outlays for purposes of this article.
    ``For any fiscal year, outlays relating to a natural disaster shall 
not be considered to be outlays for purposes of this article if the law 
making the amounts available explicitly exempts the outlays from this 
article and is agreed to by a majority of the whole number of each 
House.
    ``Section 7. No court of the United States or of any State shall 
enforce this article by ordering any reduction in Social Security or 
Medicare payments authorized by law, including any amounts paid from 
the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal 
Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability 
Insurance Trust Fund, or any fund that is a successor to any such fund, 
unless the receipts (including attributable interest) and other amounts 
available for that fund for the applicable fiscal year are not 
sufficient to cover the outlays that would otherwise occur during that 
fiscal year if the fund were fully solvent.
    ``Section 8. This article shall take effect beginning with the 
fifth fiscal year beginning after its ratification.''.
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