IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 73 

Effectuating the Compact for a Balanced Budget. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 26, 2017 

Mr. MESSER (for himself, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. HARPER, and Mr. JODY B. HICE

of Georgia) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Effectuating the Compact for a Balanced Budget. 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), 

3 SECTION 1. CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO EFFECTUATE 

4 THE COMPACT FOR A BALANCED BUDGET. 

5 (a) DECLARATION.—The Congress determines and 

6 declares that this concurrent resolution calls the Conven7 tion contemplated by the Compact for a Balanced Budget 

8 under article V of the United States Constitution, and re9 fers for ratification the Balanced Budget Amendment con10 templated by the Compact for a Balanced Budget. 

2 

•HCON 73 IH 

1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this resolution is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Concurrent resolution to effectuate the Compact for a Balanced Budget. 

TITLE I—CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROSPECTIVELY CALLING 

CONVENTION CONTEMPLATED BY COMPACT FOR A BALANCED 

BUDGET 

Sec. 101. Effective date. 

Sec. 102. Convention call. 

Sec. 103. Termination date. 

TITLE II—CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROSPECTIVELY REFERRING THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT TO STATE LEGISLATURES FOR RATIFICATION 

Sec. 201. Effective date. 

Sec. 202. Referral to legislatures of the several States for ratification. 

3 TITLE I—CONCURRENT RESOLU4 TION PROSPECTIVELY CALL5 ING CONVENTION CON6 TEMPLATED BY COMPACT 

7 FOR A BALANCED BUDGET 

8 SEC. 101. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

9 This title does not take effect until Congress receives 

10 sufficient certified conforming copies of the chaptered 

11 version of the Compact for a Balanced Budget formed ini12 tially by the State of Georgia and the State of Alaska pur13 suant to 2014 Georgia Laws Act 475 (H.B. 794) and 

14 2014 Alaska Laws Ch. 12 (H.B. 284), respectively, as it 

15 may be joined by additional States and amended from 

16 time to time (‘‘Compact for a Balanced Budget’’), evidenc17 ing that at least three-fourths of the several States are 

18 Member States of the Compact for a Balanced Budget and 

3 

•HCON 73 IH 

1 have made application thereunder for a convention for 

2 proposing amendments under article V of the United 

3 States Constitution. 

4 SEC. 102. CONVENTION CALL. 

5 Upon the effective date of this title, be it resolved 

6 by the House of Representatives of the United States (the 

7 Senate concurring), Congress hereby calls a convention for 

8 proposing amendments under article V of the United 

9 States Constitution in accordance with the Compact for 

10 a Balanced Budget. 

11 SEC. 103. TERMINATION DATE. 

12 If for any reason the convention for proposing 

13 amendments under article V of the United States Con14 stitution contemplated herein has not permanently ad15 journed within one year from the effective date of this 

16 title, all titles of this resolution shall become null and void 

17 ab initio and shall be deemed repealed in its entirety. 

4 

•HCON 73 IH 

1 TITLE II—CONCURRENT RESO2 LUTION PROSPECTIVELY RE3 FERRING THE BALANCED 

4 BUDGET AMENDMENT TO 

5 STATE LEGISLATURES FOR 

6 RATIFICATION 

7 SEC. 201. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

8 This title does not take effect until Congress receives 

9 a certified conforming copy of the Balanced Budget 

10 Amendment, as defined by the Compact for a Balanced 

11 Budget and described herein, evidencing that the conven12 tion for proposing amendments under article V of the 

13 United States Constitution organized thereunder has ap14 proved and proposed the same for ratification. 

15 SEC. 202. REFERRAL TO LEGISLATURES OF THE SEVERAL 

16 STATES FOR RATIFICATION. 

17 Upon the effective date of this title, be it resolved 

18 by the House of Representatives of the United States (the 

19 Senate concurring), that the following article has been 

20 proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the 

21 United States by a convention for proposing amendments 

22 under article V of the United States Constitution, which 

23 shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the 

24 Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of threeVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Jul 27, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HC73.IH HC73
5 

•HCON 73 IH 

1 fourths of the several States within seven years after the 

2 date of its submission for ratification: 

3 ‘‘ARTICLE— 

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

5 United States shall not exceed total receipts of the Gov6 ernment of the United States at any point in time unless 

7 the excess of outlays over receipts is financed exclusively 

8 by debt issued in strict conformity with this article. 

9 ‘‘SECTION 2. Outstanding debt shall not exceed au10 thorized debt, which initially shall be an amount equal to 

11 105 percent of the outstanding debt on the effective date 

12 of this article. Authorized debt shall not be increased 

13 above its aforesaid initial amount unless such increase is 

14 first approved by the legislatures of the several States as 

15 provided in section 3. 

16 ‘‘SECTION 3. From time to time, Congress may in17 crease authorized debt to an amount in excess of its initial 

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

19 the legislatures of the several States an unconditional, sin20 gle subject measure proposing the amount of such in21 crease, in such form as provided by law, and the measure 

22 is thereafter publicly and unconditionally approved by a 

23 simple majority of the legislatures of the several States, 

24 in such form as provided respectively by State law; pro25 vided that no inducement requiring an expenditure or tax 

6 

•HCON 73 IH 

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

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

3 within 60 calendar days after referral then the measure 

4 shall be deemed disapproved and the authorized debt shall 

5 thereby remain unchanged. 

6 ‘‘SECTION 4. Whenever the outstanding debt exceeds 

7 98 percent of the debt limit set by section 2, the President 

8 shall enforce said limit by publicly designating specific ex9 penditures for impoundment in an amount sufficient to 

10 ensure outstanding debt shall not exceed the authorized 

11 debt. Said impoundment shall become effective 30 days 

12 thereafter, unless Congress first designates an alternate 

13 impoundment of the same or greater amount by concur14 rent resolution, which shall become immediately effective. 

15 The failure of the President to designate or enforce the 

16 required impoundment is an impeachable misdemeanor. 

17 Any purported issuance or incurrence of any debt in excess 

18 of the debt limit set by section 2 is void. 

19 ‘‘SECTION 5. No bill that provides for a new or in20 creased general revenue tax shall become law unless ap21 proved by a two-thirds roll call vote of the whole number 

22 of each House of Congress. However, this requirement 

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

24 user sales tax which would completely replace every exist25 ing income tax levied by the Government of the United 

7 

•HCON 73 IH 

1 States; or for the reduction or elimination of an exemp2 tion, deduction, or credit allowed under an existing general 

3 revenue tax. 

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

5 means any obligation backed by the full faith and credit 

6 of the Government of the United States; ‘outstanding 

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

8 at a given point in time; ‘authorized debt’ means the max9 imum total amount of debt that may be lawfully issued 

10 and outstanding at any single point in time under this 

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

12 States’ means all expenditures of the Government of the 

13 United States from any source; ‘total receipts of the Gov14 ernment of the United States’ means all tax receipts and 

15 other income of the Government of the United States, ex16 cluding proceeds from its issuance or incurrence of debt 

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

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

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

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

21 of the United States excluding imposts and duties. 

22 ‘‘SECTION 7. This article is immediately operative 

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

24 conforming legislation to facilitate enforcement.’’. 

Æ