I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2471 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2015 

Mr. BRADY of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

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 2015’’. 


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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 base17 line 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 the spending reduction 

21 report. 

22 ‘‘(b) SPENDING REDUCTION ORDER.—(1) Within 15 

23 calendar days after Congress adjourns to end a session, 

24 there shall be a spending reduction order under section 

25 254(f)(5). 


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1 ‘‘(2) Each non-exempt discretionary budget account 

2 shall be reduced by a dollar amount calculated by multi3 plying the enacted level of sequestrable budgetary re4 sources in that account at that time by the uniform per5 centage necessary to achieve the required automatic 

6 spending reduction. 

7 ‘‘(3) No discretionary budget account shall be subject 

8 to a spending reduction of more than five percent of its 

9 budgetary resources. 

10 ‘‘(c) FISCAL YEARS OF THE TOTAL SPENDING PE11 RIOD.—The fiscal years within the total spending period 

12 shall be as follows: 

13 ‘‘(1) Fiscal year 2016: 19.0 percent of potential 

14 GDP. 

15 ‘‘(2) Fiscal year 2017: 17.7 percent of potential 

16 GDP. 

17 ‘‘(3) Fiscal year 2018: 17.0 percent of potential 

18 GDP. 

19 ‘‘(4) Fiscal year 2019: 16.8 percent of potential 

20 GDP. 

21 ‘‘(5) Fiscal year 2020: 16.7 percent of potential 

22 GDP. 

23 ‘‘(6) Fiscal year 2021: 16.6 percent of potential 

24 GDP. 


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1 ‘‘(7) Fiscal year 2022: 16.6 percent of potential 

2 GDP. 

3 ‘‘(8) Fiscal year 2023: 16.3 percent of potential 

4 GDP. 

5 ‘‘(9) Fiscal year 2024: 16.0 percent of potential 

6 GDP. 

7 ‘‘(10) Fiscal year 2025 and subsequent fiscal 

8 years: 16.0 percent of potential GDP. 

9 ‘‘(d) REDUCTION FOR UNFUNDED FEDERAL MAN10 DATES.—The amount determined under subsection (c) 

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

12 amount equal to the amount of the unfunded direct costs 

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

14 such terms are defined under section 421 of the Congres15 sional Budget Act of 1974) enacted after the date of the 

16 enactment of this section. Such amount shall not be treat17 ed as being less than zero with respect to any fiscal year.’’. 

18 (b) REPEAL OF SECTION 251A.—Section 251A of the 

19 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 

20 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901a) is repealed. 

21 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Congressional 

22 Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 

23 622) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

24 paragraphs: 


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1 ‘‘(12) The term ‘total spending’ means all out2 lays of the Government including those from off3 budget entities and budget authority and outlays 

4 flowing therefrom, as applicable, designated as emer5 gencies, and excluding net interest. 

6 ‘‘(13) The term ‘total spending limit’ means the 

7 maximum permissible total spending of the Govern8 ment set forth as a percentage of estimated potential 

9 GDP. 

10 ‘‘(14) The term ‘potential GDP’ has the same 

11 meaning as the term potential GDP used by the 

12 Congressional Budget Office, which is the gross do13 mestic product that would occur if the economy were 

14 at full employment, not exceeding the employment 

15 level at which inflation would occur.’’. 

16 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS RESULTING FROM

17 THE REPEAL OF OLD SECTION 251.— 

18 (1) DEFINITIONS.—Paragraphs (3) and (4) of 

19 section 250(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emer20 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 are repealed. 

21 (2) SECTIONS 254(c) AND 254(f) AMEND22 MENTS.—Sections 254(c)(2) and 254(f)(2) of such 

23 Act are repealed. 

24 (e) ADDITIONAL CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO

25 SECTION 254.—(1) The table set forth in section 254(a) 


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1 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 

2 Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 904(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘se3 questration’’ each place it appears. 

4 (2) Section 254(c)(1) of such Act is amended by in5 serting ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘pay-as-you-go’’ and by striking ‘‘, 

6 and deficit’’ and inserting ‘‘and regarding spending reduc7 tion’’. 

8 (3) Section 254(c)(4) of such Act is amended to read 

9 as follows: 

10 ‘‘(4) SPENDING REDUCTION REPORT.—The pre11 view report shall set forth for the budget year esti12 mates for each of the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) Estimated total spending. 

14 ‘‘(B) Estimate of potential GDP. 

15 ‘‘(C) The spending reduction percentage 

16 necessary to achieve the applicable percent of 

17 potential GDP under section 251(c).’’. 

18 (4) Section 254(f)(3) of such Act is amended— 

19 (A) in the side heading, by striking ‘‘AND DEF20 ICIT SEQUESTRATION REPORTS’’ and insert ‘‘SE21 QUESTRATION REPORT AND SPENDING REDUCTION

22 REPORT’’; and 

23 (B) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘and def24 icit sequestration preview reports’’ and inserting ‘‘seVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 May 27, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2471.IH H2471

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1 questration preview report and the spending reduc2 tion report’’. 

3 (f) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO SECTION 250.— 

4 The item relating to section 251 in the table of contents 

5 set forth in 250(a) of the Balanced Budget and Emer6 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900(a)) is 

7 amended to read as follows: 

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

8 SEC. 3. ALLOCATION FOR EMERGENCIES. 

9 (a) Section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act 

10 of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 633(a)) is amended by adding at the 

11 end the following new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(6) ALLOCATION TO THE COMMITTEES ON AP13 PROPRIATIONS FOR EMERGENCIES.—Of the amounts 

14 of new budget authority and outlays allocated to the 

15 Committees on Appropriations for the first fiscal 

16 year of the concurrent resolution on the budget, 1 

17 percent shall be set aside for emergencies and may 

18 be used for no other purpose.’’. 

19 (b) Section 1105(a)(14) of title 31, United States 

20 Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, including an amount for 

21 emergency spending not less than 1 percent of all discre22 tionary spending for that year’’ before the period. 

Æ 


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