II 

Calendar No. 151 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3010 

To cap noninterest Federal spending as a percentage of potential GDP to 

right-size the Government, grow the economy, and balance the budget. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 19, 2021 

Mr. BRAUN introduced the following bill; which was read the first time 

OCTOBER 20, 2021 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

A BILL 

To cap noninterest Federal spending as a percentage of 

potential GDP to right-size the Government, grow the 

economy, and balance the budget. 

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 title may be cited as the ‘‘Maximizing America’s 

5 Prosperity Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS. 

2 (a) TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS.—Section 251 of the 

3 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 

4 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901) is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 251. TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS. 

6 ‘‘(a) PROJECTIONS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) OMB REPORT.—OMB shall prepare a re8 port comparing projected total spending under sec9 tion 257 and the total spending limits in subsection 

10 (c), and include such report in the budget as sub11 mitted by the President annually under section 

12 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code. 

13 ‘‘(2) CBO REPORT.—CBO shall prepare a re14 port comparing projected total spending under sec15 tion 257 and the total spending limits in subsection 

16 (c), and include such report in the CBO annual 

17 baseline and reestimate of the President’s budget. 

18 ‘‘(3) INCLUSION IN SPENDING REDUCTION OR19 DERS.—Reports prepared pursuant to this sub20 section shall be included in a spending reduction 

21 order issued under subsection (b). 

22 ‘‘(b) SPENDING REDUCTION ORDER.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within 15 calendar days 

24 after Congress adjourns to end a session, there shall 

25 be a spending reduction order under section 

26 254(f)(4). 


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1 ‘‘(2) CALCULATION OF SPENDING REDUC2 TION.—Subject to paragraph (3), each non-exempt 

3 budget account shall be reduced by a dollar amount 

4 calculated by multiplying the enacted level of 

5 sequestrable budgetary resources in that account at 

6 that time by the uniform percentage necessary to 

7 achieve the required automatic spending reduction. 

8 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON REDUCTION.—No budget 

9 account shall be subject to a spending reduction of 

10 more than 5 percent of the budgetary resources of 

11 the budget account. 

12 ‘‘(c) FISCAL YEARS OF THE TOTAL SPENDING PE13 RIOD.—The total spending limit for each fiscal year shall 

14 be as follows: 

15 ‘‘(1) Fiscal year 2022: 18.9 percent of potential 

16 GDP. 

17 ‘‘(2) Fiscal year 2023: 18.6 percent of potential 

18 GDP. 

19 ‘‘(3) Fiscal year 2024: 18.2 percent of potential 

20 GDP. 

21 ‘‘(4) Fiscal year 2025: 18.4 percent of potential 

22 GDP. 

23 ‘‘(5) Fiscal year 2026: 18.3 percent of potential 

24 GDP. 


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1 ‘‘(6) Fiscal year 2027: 18.2 percent of potential 

2 GDP. 

3 ‘‘(7) Fiscal year 2028: 18.6 percent of potential 

4 GDP. 

5 ‘‘(8) Fiscal year 2029: 17.9 percent of potential 

6 GDP. 

7 ‘‘(9) Fiscal year 2030: 17.7 percent of potential 

8 GDP. 

9 ‘‘(10) Fiscal year 2031 and subsequent fiscal 

10 years: 17.5 percent of potential GDP. 

11 ‘‘(d) REDUCTION FOR UNFUNDED FEDERAL MAN12 DATES.—The amount determined under subsection (c) 

13 with respect to each fiscal year shall be reduced by an 

14 amount equal to the amount of the unfunded direct costs 

15 with respect to such fiscal year of Federal mandates (as 

16 such terms are defined in section 421 of the Congressional 

17 Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658)) enacted after the date 

18 of the enactment of the Maximizing America’s Prosperity 

19 Act of 2021. Such amount shall not be treated as being 

20 less than zero with respect to any fiscal year.’’. 

21 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 250(c) of the Balanced 

22 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 

23 U.S.C. 900(c)) is amended by adding at the end the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(22)(A) The term ‘total spending’ means all 

2 budget authority and outlays of the Government ex3 cluding net interest. 

4 ‘‘(B) The term ‘total spending limit’ means the 

5 maximum permissible total spending of the Govern6 ment set forth as a percentage of estimated potential 

7 GDP specified in section 251(c). 

8 ‘‘(23) The term ‘potential GDP’ means the 

9 gross domestic product that would occur if the econ10 omy were at full employment, not exceeding the em11 ployment level at which inflation would accelerate.’’. 

12 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Part C of the Bal13 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 

14 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.) is amended— 

15 (1) in section 254 (2 U.S.C. 904)— 

16 (A) in subsection (a), in the table, by in17 serting ‘‘and spending reduction’’ after ‘‘seques18 tration’’ each place it appears; 

19 (B) in subsection (c)— 

20 (i) in the subsection heading, by in21 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 

22 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; 

23 (ii) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘dis24 cretionary, pay-as-you-go, and deficit se25 questration’’ and inserting ‘‘pay-as-you-go 


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1 and deficit sequestration and regarding 

2 spending reduction’’; 

3 (iii) by striking paragraph (2) and in4 serting the following: 

5 ‘‘(2) SPENDING REDUCTION REPORT.—The pre6 view reports shall set forth for the budget year esti7 mates for each of the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) Estimated total spending. 

9 ‘‘(B) Estimate of potential GDP. 

10 ‘‘(C) The spending reduction necessary to 

11 comply with the total spending limit under sec12 tion 251(c).’’; 

13 (C) in subsection (e)— 

14 (i) in the subsection heading, by in15 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 

16 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; and 

17 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and spending reduc18 tion’’ after ‘‘sequestration’’ each place it 

19 appears; and 

20 (D) in subsection (f)— 

21 (i) in the subsection heading, by in22 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 

23 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; 


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1 (ii) in paragraph (1), by inserting 

2 ‘‘and spending reduction’’ after ‘‘sequestra3 tion’’; 

4 (iii) by striking paragraph (2); 

5 (iv) by redesignating paragraphs (3), 

6 (4), and (5) as paragraphs (2), (3), and 

7 (4), respectively; and 

8 (v) in paragraph (2), as so redesig9 nated— 

10 (I) in the heading, by inserting 

11 ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION ’’ before 

12 ‘‘ REPORTS’’; 

13 (II) in the first sentence, by in14 serting ‘‘spending reduction report’’ 

15 after ‘‘preview reports’’; and 

16 (III) by striking the second sen17 tence and inserting the following: ‘‘In 

18 addition, these reports shall contain, 

19 for the budget year, for each account 

20 to be sequestered or subject to a 

21 spending reduction, as the case may 

22 be, estimates of the baseline level of 

23 sequestrable or reducible budgetary 

24 resources and resulting outlays and 

25 the amount of budgetary resources to 


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1 be sequestered or reduced and result2 ing outlay reductions.’’; 

3 (vi) in paragraph (3), as so redesig4 nated, by striking ‘‘sequesterable’’ and in5 serting ‘‘sequestrable or reducible’’; and 

6 (vii) in paragraph (4), as so redesig7 nated— 

8 (I) by inserting ‘‘or spending re9 duction’’ after ‘‘final sequestration’’; 

10 (II) by inserting ‘‘or spending re11 duction’’ before ‘‘is required’’; and 

12 (III) by inserting ‘‘or spending 

13 reductions, as the case may be,’’ after 

14 ‘‘sequestrations’’; 

15 (2) in section 257(a) (2 U.S.C. 907(a)), by in16 serting ‘‘total spending,’’ after ‘‘outlays,’’; and 

17 (3) in section 258C(a)(1) (2 U.S.C. 

18 907d(a)(1))— 

19 (A) by inserting ‘‘or spending reduction’’ 

20 after ‘‘sequestration’’ each place the term ap21 pears; and 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘252 or 253’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘251, 252, or 253’’. 

24 (d) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

25 section 250(a) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 


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1 Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900(a)) is amended 

2 by striking the item relating to section 251 and inserting 

3 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 251. Total spending limits.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. ALLOCATION FOR EMERGENCIES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302(a) of the Congres6 sional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 633(a)) is amended 

7 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(6) ALLOCATION TO THE COMMITTEES ON AP9 PROPRIATIONS FOR EMERGENCIES.—Of the amounts 

10 of new budget authority and outlays allocated to the 

11 Committees on Appropriations for the first fiscal 

12 year of the concurrent resolution on the budget, 1 

13 percent shall be designated as for emergencies and 

14 may be used for no other purpose.’’. 

15 (b) BUDGET OF THE PRESIDENT.—Section 

16 1105(a)(14) of title 31, United States Code, is amended 

17 by inserting ‘‘, including an amount for emergency spend18 ing not less than 1 percent of all discretionary spending 

19 for that year’’ before the period. 

20 SEC. 4. PRESIDENT’S BUDGET SUBMISSIONS TO CONGRESS. 

21 Section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following new sub23 section: 

24 ‘‘(i)(1) The budget transmitted pursuant to sub25 section (a) shall be in compliance with the statutory cap 


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1 on Federal spending set forth in the Maximizing Amer2 ica’s Prosperity Act of 2021. 

3 ‘‘(2) Any budget transmitted pursuant to subsection 

4 (a) or paragraph (1) for a fiscal year shall include a 

5 prioritization of spending (as described in section 

6 256(a)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 

7 Control Act of 1985), by ranking all programs, projects, 

8 and activities of the Government in five categories from 

9 the— 

10 ‘‘(A) vital to the general welfare and requires 

11 national policy; 

12 ‘‘(B) important to the general welfare and re13 quires national policy; 

14 ‘‘(C) important to the general welfare and bene15 fits from national policy; 

16 ‘‘(D) advances the general welfare and can 

17 largely be accomplished by non-Federal entities; and 

18 ‘‘(E) does not clearly advance the general wel19 fare and may be unsuited for national policy; 

20 with not less than 12 percent of total spending falling into 

21 any one category.’’. 

22 SEC. 5. CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS ON THE BUDGET. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 312 of the Congressional 

24 Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 643) is amended by adding 

25 at the end the following new subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(g) STATUTORY CAP ON TOTAL FEDERAL SPEND2 ING POINT OF ORDER.—It shall not be in order in the 

3 House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any 

4 concurrent resolution on the budget that sets forth total 

5 Federal outlays for any fiscal year in excess of those set 

6 forth for that fiscal year in section 252A of the Balanced 

7 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.’’. 

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsections (c)(2) 

9 and (d)(3) of section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act 

10 of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 621 note) are each amended by striking 

11 ‘‘and 312(c)’’ and inserting ‘‘312(c), and 312(g)’’. 


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Calendar No. 151 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3010 

A BILL 

To cap noninterest Federal spending as a percentment, grow the economy, and balance the budget. age of potential GDP to right-size the GovernOCTOBER 20, 2021 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 


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