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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 229 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

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.

    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. Total outlays of the Government of the United States 
shall not exceed total receipts of the Government of the United States 
at any point in time unless the excess of outlays over receipts is 
financed exclusively by debt issued in strict conformity with this 
article.
    ``Section 2. Outstanding debt shall not exceed authorized debt, 
which initially shall be an amount equal to 105 percent of the 
outstanding debt on the effective date of this article. Authorized debt 
shall not be increased above its aforesaid initial amount unless such 
increase is first approved by the legislatures of the several States as 
provided in section 3.
    ``Section 3. From time to time, Congress may increase authorized 
debt to an amount in excess of its initial amount set by section 2 only 
if it first publicly refers to the legislatures of the several States 
an unconditional, single subject measure proposing the amount of such 
increase, in such form as provided by law, and the measure is 
thereafter publicly and unconditionally approved by a simple majority 
of the legislatures of the several States, in such form as provided 
respectively by State law: Provided, That no inducement requiring an 
expenditure or tax levy shall be demanded, offered or accepted as a 
quid pro quo for such approval. If such approval is not obtained within 
sixty (60) calendar days after referral then the measure shall be 
deemed disapproved and the authorized debt shall thereby remain 
unchanged.
    ``Section 4. Whenever the outstanding debt exceeds 98 percent of 
the debt limit set by section 2, the President shall enforce said limit 
by publicly designating specific expenditures for impoundment in an 
amount sufficient to ensure outstanding debt shall not exceed the 
authorized debt. Said impoundment shall become effective thirty (30) 
days thereafter, unless Congress first designates an alternate 
impoundment of the same or greater amount by concurrent resolution, 
which shall become immediately effective. The failure of the President 
to designate or enforce the required impoundment is an impeachable 
misdemeanor. Any purported issuance or incurrence of any debt in excess 
of the debt limit set by section 2 is void.
    ``Section 5. No bill that provides for a new or increased general 
revenue tax shall become law unless approved by a two-thirds roll call 
vote of the whole number of each House of Congress. However, this 
requirement shall not apply to any bill that provides for a new end 
user sales tax which would completely replace every existing income tax 
levied by the Government of the United States; or for the reduction or 
elimination of an exemption, deduction, or credit allowed under an 
existing general revenue tax.
    ``Section 6. For purposes of this article, `debt' means any 
obligation backed by the full faith and credit of the Government of the 
United States; `outstanding debt' means all debt held in any account 
and by any entity at a given point in time; `authorized debt' means the 
maximum total amount of debt that may be lawfully issued and 
outstanding at any single point in time under this article; `total 
outlays of the Government of the United States' means all expenditures 
of the Government of the United States from any source; `total receipts 
of the Government of the United States' means all tax receipts and 
other income of the Government of the United States, excluding proceeds 
from its issuance or incurrence of debt or any type of liability; 
`impoundment' means a proposal not to spend all or part of a sum of 
money appropriated by Congress; and `general revenue tax' means any 
income tax, sales tax, or value-added tax levied by the Government of 
the United States excluding imposts and duties.
    ``Section 7. This article is immediately operative upon 
ratification, self-enforcing, and Congress may enact conforming 
legislation to facilitate enforcement.''.
                                 <all>
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