II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2245 

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 

JULY 24, 2019 

Mr. BRAUN (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget 

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 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS. 

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

8 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 

9 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 251. TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS. 

2 ‘‘(a) PROJECTIONS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) OMB REPORT.—OMB shall prepare a re4 port comparing projected total spending under sec5 tion 257 and the total spending limits in subsection 

6 (c), and include such report in the budget as sub7 mitted by the President annually under section 

8 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code. 

9 ‘‘(2) CBO REPORT.—CBO shall prepare a re10 port comparing projected total spending under sec11 tion 257 and the total spending limits in subsection 

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

13 baseline and reestimate of the President’s budget. 

14 ‘‘(3) INCLUSION IN SPENDING REDUCTION OR15 DERS.—Reports prepared pursuant to this sub16 section shall be included in a spending reduction 

17 order issued under subsection (b). 

18 ‘‘(b) SPENDING REDUCTION ORDER.— 

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

20 after Congress adjourns to end a session, there shall 

21 be a spending reduction order under section 

22 254(f)(4). 

23 ‘‘(2) CALCULATION OF SPENDING REDUC24 TION.—Subject to paragraph (3), each non-exempt 

25 budget account shall be reduced by a dollar amount 

26 calculated by multiplying the enacted level of 


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1 sequestrable budgetary resources in that account at 

2 that time by the uniform percentage necessary to 

3 achieve the required automatic spending reduction. 

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

5 account shall be subject to a spending reduction of 

6 more than 5 percent of the budgetary resources of 

7 the budget account. 

8 ‘‘(c) FISCAL YEARS OF THE TOTAL SPENDING PE9 RIOD.—The total spending limit for each fiscal year shall 

10 be as follows: 

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

12 GDP. 

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

14 GDP. 

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

16 GDP. 

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

18 GDP. 

19 ‘‘(5) Fiscal year 2026: 18.4 percent of potential 

20 GDP. 

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

22 GDP. 

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

24 GDP. 


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

2 GDP. 

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

4 GDP. 

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

6 years: 17.5 percent of potential GDP. 

7 ‘‘(d) REDUCTION FOR UNFUNDED FEDERAL MAN8 DATES.—The amount determined under subsection (c) 

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

10 amount equal to the amount of the unfunded direct costs 

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

12 such terms are defined in section 421 of the Congressional 

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

14 of the enactment of the Maximizing America’s Prosperity 

15 Act of 2019. Such amount shall not be treated as being 

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

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

18 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 

19 U.S.C. 900(c)) is amended by adding at the end the fol20 lowing: 

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

22 budget authority and outlays of the Government ex23 cluding net interest. 

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

25 maximum permissible total spending of the GovernVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2245.IS S2245

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1 ment set forth as a percentage of estimated potential 

2 GDP specified in section 251(c). 

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

4 gross domestic product that would occur if the econ5 omy were at full employment, not exceeding the em6 ployment level at which inflation would accelerate.’’. 

7 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Part C of the Bal8 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 

9 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.) is amended— 

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

11 (A) in subsection (a), in the table, by in12 serting ‘‘and spending reduction’’ after ‘‘seques13 tration’’ each place it appears; 

14 (B) in subsection (c)— 

15 (i) in the subsection heading, by in16 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 

17 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; 

18 (ii) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘dis19 cretionary, pay-as-you-go, and deficit se20 questration’’ and inserting ‘‘pay-as-you-go 

21 and deficit sequestration and regarding 

22 spending reduction’’; 

23 (iii) by striking paragraph (2) and in24 serting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(2) SPENDING REDUCTION REPORT.—The pre2 view reports shall set forth for the budget year esti3 mates for each of the following: 

4 ‘‘(A) Estimated total spending. 

5 ‘‘(B) Estimate of potential GDP. 

6 ‘‘(C) The spending reduction necessary to 

7 comply with the total spending limit under sec8 tion 251(c).’’; 

9 (C) in subsection (e)— 

10 (i) in the subsection heading, by in11 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 

12 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; and 

13 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and spending reduc14 tion’’ after ‘‘sequestration’’ each place it 

15 appears; and 

16 (D) in subsection (f)— 

17 (i) in the subsection heading, by in18 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 

19 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; 

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

21 ‘‘and spending reduction’’ after ‘‘sequestra22 tion’’; 

23 (iii) by striking paragraph (2); 


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1 (iv) by redesignating paragraphs (3), 

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

3 (4), respectively; and 

4 (v) in paragraph (2), as so redesig5 nated— 

6 (I) in the heading, by inserting 

7 ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION ’’ before 

8 ‘‘ REPORTS’’; 

9 (II) in the first sentence, by in10 serting ‘‘spending reduction report’’ 

11 after ‘‘preview reports’’; and 

12 (III) by striking the second sen13 tence and inserting the following: ‘‘In 

14 addition, these reports shall contain, 

15 for the budget year, for each account 

16 to be sequestered or subject to a 

17 spending reduction, as the case may 

18 be, estimates of the baseline level of 

19 sequestrable or reducible budgetary 

20 resources and resulting outlays and 

21 the amount of budgetary resources to 

22 be sequestered or reduced and result23 ing outlay reductions.’’; 


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1 (vi) in paragraph (3), as so redesig2 nated, by striking ‘‘sequesterable’’ and in3 serting ‘‘sequestrable or reducible’’; and 

4 (vii) in paragraph (4), as so redesig5 nated— 

6 (I) by inserting ‘‘or spending re7 duction’’ after ‘‘final sequestration’’; 

8 (II) by inserting ‘‘or spending re9 duction’’ before ‘‘is required’’; and 

10 (III) by inserting ‘‘or spending 

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

12 ‘‘sequestrations’’; 

13 (2) in section 257(a) (2 U.S.C. 907(a)), by in14 serting ‘‘total spending,’’ after ‘‘outlays,’’; and 

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

16 907d(a)(1))— 

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

18 after ‘‘sequestration’’ each place the term ap19 pears; and 

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

21 ‘‘251, 252, or 253’’. 

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

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

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


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1 by striking the item relating to section 251 and inserting 

2 the following: 

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

3 SEC. 3. ALLOCATION FOR EMERGENCIES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302(a) of the Congres5 sional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 633(a)) is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(6) ALLOCATION TO THE COMMITTEES ON AP8 PROPRIATIONS FOR EMERGENCIES.—Of the amounts 

9 of new budget authority and outlays allocated to the 

10 Committees on Appropriations for the first fiscal 

11 year of the concurrent resolution on the budget, 1 

12 percent shall be designated as for emergencies and 

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

14 (b) BUDGET OF THE PRESIDENT.—Section 

15 1105(a)(14) of title 31, United States Code, is amended 

16 by inserting ‘‘, including an amount for emergency spend17 ing not less than 1 percent of all discretionary spending 

18 for that year’’ before the period. 


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