I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 567

To require that the President transmit to Congress, that the congressional

Budget Committees report, and that the Congress consider a balanced

budget for each fiscal year.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 19, 1995

Mr. BENTSEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight and, in addition, to the Committees on the Budget and 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 require that the President transmit to Congress, that

the congressional Budget Committees report, and that

the Congress consider a balanced budget for each fiscal

year.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 TITLE I—AMENDMENT TO TITLE 31,

2 UNITED STATES CODE

3 SEC. 101. SUBMISSION OF BALANCED BUDGET BY THE

4 PRESIDENT.

5 Section 1105 of title 31, United States code, is

6 amended by inserting at the end the following new sub7 section:

8 ‘‘(g)(1) Except as provided by paragraph (2), any

9 budget submitted to Congress pursuant to subsection (a)

10 for the ensuing fiscal year shall not be in deficit.

11 ‘‘(2) For any fiscal year with respect to which the

12 President determines that it is infeasible to submit a

13 budget in compliance with paragraph (1), the President

14 shall submit on the same day two budgets, one of which

15 shall be in compliance with paragraph (1), together with

16 written reasons in support of that determination.’’.

17 TITLE II—AMENDMENT TO

18 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT OF 1974

19 SEC. 201. REPORTING OF BALANCED BUDGETS BY COMMIT20 TEES ON THE BUDGET OF THE HOUSE OF

21 REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE.

22 Section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974

23 is amended by inserting at the end the following new sub24 section:

25 ‘‘(j) REPORTING OF BALANCED BUDGETS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) Except as provided by paragraph (2), the

2 concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal year

3 referred to in subsection (a) as reported by the Com4 mittee on the Budget of each House shall not be in

5 deficit.

6 ‘‘(2) For any fiscal year with respect to which

7 the Committee on the Budget of either House deter8 mines that it is infeasible to report a concurrent res9 olution on the budget in compliance with paragraph

10 (1) and includes written reasons in support of that

11 determination in its report accompanying a concur12 rent resolution on the budget, the committee shall

13 report two concurrent resolutions on the budget, one

14 of which shall be in compliance with paragraph (1).

15 ‘‘(3) Each concurrent resolution on the budget

16 reported by the Committee on the Budget of either

17 House shall contain reconciliation directives de18 scribed in section 310 necessary to effectuate the

19 provisions and requirements of such resolution.’’.

20 SEC. 202. PROCEDURE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA21 TIVES.

22 Section 305(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of

23 1974 is amended by inserting at the end the following:

24 ‘‘(8)(A) If the Committee on Rules of the

25 House of Representatives reports any rule or order
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1 providing for the consideration of any concurrent

2 resolution on the budget for a fiscal year, then it

3 shall also, within the same rule or order, provide

4 for—

5 ‘‘(i) the consideration of the text of any

6 concurrent resolution on the budget for that fis7 cal year reported by the Committee on the

8 Budget of the House of Representatives pursu9 ant to section 301(j); and

10 ‘‘(ii) the consideration of the text of each

11 concurrent resolution on the budget as intro12 duced by the Majority Leader pursuant to sub13 paragraph (B);

14 and such rule or order shall assure that a separate

15 vote occurs on each such budget.

16 ‘‘(B) The Majority Leader of the House of Rep17 resentatives shall introduce a concurrent resolution

18 on the budget reflecting, without substantive revi19 sion, each budget submitted by the President pursu20 ant to section 1105(g) of title 31, United States

21 Code, as soon as practicable after its submission.’’.

22 SEC. 203. PROCEDURE IN THE SENATE.

23 Section 305(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of

24 1974 is amended by inserting at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(7) Notwithstanding any other rule, it shall al2 ways be in order in the Senate to consider an

3 amendment to a concurrent resolution on the budget

4 for a fiscal year comprising the text of any budget

5 submitted by the President for that fiscal year as

6 described in section 1105(g)(1) of title 31, United

7 States Code, and, whenever applicable, an amend8 ment comprising the text of any other budget sub9 mitted by the President for that fiscal year as de10 scribed in section 1105(g)(2) of title 31, United

11 States Code.’’.

12 TITLE III—EFFECTIVE DATE

13 SEC. 301. EFFECTIVE DATE.

14 This Act and the amendments made by it shall be15 come effective for fiscal year 1997 and shall be fully re16 flected in the fiscal year 1997 budget submitted by the

17 President as required by section 1105(a) of title 31, Unit18 ed States Code.

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