I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4815

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 22, 1994

Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. NUSSLE, and Mr. HALL of

Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on House Administration, Post Office and Civil Service, and

Rules

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.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Fiscal

5 Responsibility Act of 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PROVISIONS RELATING TO MEMBERS’ PAY.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 601(a) of the Legislative

3 Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 31) is amended by

4 adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(3)(A) For purposes of this paragraph, any deter6 mination as to whether total receipts of the Federal Gov7 ernment are greater than, less than, or equal to its total

8 expenditures in a fiscal year shall be determined using

9 total public expenditures, respectively, as indicated in the

10 report submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury to the

11 Congress under section 331(c) of title 31, United States

12 Code, for such year.

13 ‘‘(B) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this

14 subsection, whenever the total expenditures of the Federal

15 Government exceed its total receipts for a fiscal year, the

16 annual rate of pay for each position under paragraph (1)

17 (A)–(C) shall be reduced by 5 percent for fiscal year 1998,

18 10 percent for fiscal year 1999, 10 percent for fiscal year

19 2000, and 10 percent for fiscal year 2001, effective as of

20 the first applicable pay period beginning on or after the

21 date as of which Congress receives the report (referred to

22 in subparagraph (A)) relating to such fiscal year. Such

23 reductions shall be cumulative and the total of such reduc24 tions may not exceed 35 percent.

25 ‘‘(C) Effective as of the first applicable pay period

26 beginning on or after the date as of which Congress re-
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1 ceives a report (referred to in subparagraph (A)) indicat2 ing that total receipts of the Federal Government are

3 greater than or equal to its total expenditures for a fiscal

4 year—

5 ‘‘(i) all reductions under subparagraph (B) then

6 in effect shall be disregarded; and

7 ‘‘(ii) pay for each position under paragraph (1)

8 (A)–(C) shall be restored to the level which would

9 then be in effect for such position if this paragraph

10 had never been enacted.

11 ‘‘(D) A pay adjustment under subparagraph (B) or

12 (C) shall be made before any other adjustment otherwise

13 scheduled to take effect on the same day for the same posi14 tion.’’.

15 (b) PROCEDURES.—(1) It shall not be in order in ei16 ther the House of Representatives or the Senate to con17 sider any bill or resolution which would increase the rate

18 of basic pay for the Members of Congress (excluding any

19 bill or resolution to which section 225(i) of the Federal

20 Salary Act of 1967 applies) unless that bill or resolution

21 deals with no subject matter other than a pay increase

22 for Members.

23 (2) Any bill or resolution which is subject to para24 graph (1) may be passed or adopted, as the case may be,

25 by the House of Representatives or the Senate only by
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1 a vote recorded so as to reflect the vote of each Member

2 voting.

3 (3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) are enacted by Con4 gress—

5 (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of

6 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re7 spectively, and such rules shall supersede other rules

8 only to the extent that they are inconsistent there9 with; and

10 (B) with full recognition of the constitutional

11 right of each House to change such rules (so far as

12 relating to such House) at any time, in such man13 ner, and to the same extent as in the case of any

14 other rule of such House.

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