IA 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. J. RES. 229 

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States related 

to the public debt. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2024 

Mr. BURLISON submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

JOINT RESOLUTION 

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United 

States related to the public debt. 

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled

3 (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the fol4 lowing article is proposed as an amendment to the Con5 stitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all 

6 intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when 

7 ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several 

8 States within seven years after the date of its submission 

9 for ratification: 


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1 ‘‘ARTICLE— 

2 ‘‘SECTION 1. Total outlays of the Government of the 

3 United States shall not exceed total receipts of the Gov4 ernment of the United States at any point in time unless 

5 the excess of outlays over receipts is financed exclusively 

6 by debt issued in strict conformity with this article. 

7 ‘‘SECTION 2. Outstanding debt shall not exceed au8 thorized debt, which initially shall be an amount equal to 

9 105 percent of the outstanding debt on the effective date 

10 of this article. Authorized debt shall not be increased 

11 above its aforesaid initial amount unless such increase is 

12 first approved by the legislatures of the several States as 

13 provided in section 3. 

14 ‘‘SECTION 3. From time to time, Congress may in15 crease authorized debt to an amount in excess of its initial 

16 amount set by section 2 only if it first publicly refers to 

17 the legislatures of the several States an unconditional, sin18 gle subject measure proposing the amount of such in19 crease, in such form as provided by law, and the measure 

20 is thereafter publicly and unconditionally approved by a 

21 simple majority of the legislatures of the several States, 

22 in such form as provided respectively by State law: Pro23 vided, That no inducement requiring an expenditure or tax 

24 levy shall be demanded, offered or accepted as a quid pro 

25 quo for such approval. If such approval is not obtained 


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1 within sixty (60) calendar days after referral then the 

2 measure shall be deemed disapproved and the authorized 

3 debt shall thereby remain unchanged. 

4 ‘‘SECTION 4. Whenever the outstanding debt exceeds 

5 98 percent of the debt limit set by section 2, the President 

6 shall enforce said limit by publicly designating specific ex7 penditures for impoundment in an amount sufficient to 

8 ensure outstanding debt shall not exceed the authorized 

9 debt. Said impoundment shall become effective thirty (30) 

10 days thereafter, unless Congress first designates an alter11 nate impoundment of the same or greater amount by con12 current resolution, which shall become immediately effec13 tive. The failure of the President to designate or enforce 

14 the required impoundment is an impeachable mis15 demeanor. Any purported issuance or incurrence of any 

16 debt in excess of the debt limit set by section 2 is void. 

17 ‘‘SECTION 5. No bill that provides for a new or in18 creased general revenue tax shall become law unless ap19 proved by a two-thirds roll call vote of the whole number 

20 of each House of Congress. However, this requirement 

21 shall not apply to any bill that provides for a new end 

22 user sales tax which would completely replace every exist23 ing income tax levied by the Government of the United 

24 States; or for the reduction or elimination of an exempVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Dec 24, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HJ229.IH HJ229

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1 tion, deduction, or credit allowed under an existing general 

2 revenue tax. 

3 ‘‘SECTION 6. For purposes of this article, ‘debt’ 

4 means any obligation backed by the full faith and credit 

5 of the Government of the United States; ‘outstanding 

6 debt’ means all debt held in any account and by any entity 

7 at a given point in time; ‘authorized debt’ means the max8 imum total amount of debt that may be lawfully issued 

9 and outstanding at any single point in time under this 

10 article; ‘total outlays of the Government of the United 

11 States’ means all expenditures of the Government of the 

12 United States from any source; ‘total receipts of the Gov13 ernment of the United States’ means all tax receipts and 

14 other income of the Government of the United States, ex15 cluding proceeds from its issuance or incurrence of debt 

16 or any type of liability; ‘impoundment’ means a proposal 

17 not to spend all or part of a sum of money appropriated 

18 by Congress; and ‘general revenue tax’ means any income 

19 tax, sales tax, or value-added tax levied by the Government 

20 of the United States excluding imposts and duties. 

21 ‘‘SECTION 7. This article is immediately operative 

22 upon ratification, self-enforcing, and Congress may enact 

23 conforming legislation to facilitate enforcement.’’. 

Æ 


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