I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 397
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 9, 1997
Mr. BENTSEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Commit-
tee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the commit-
tee 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I—AMENDMENT TO TITLE 31,
UNITED STATES CODE
SEC. 101. SUBMISSION OF BALANCED BUDGET BY THE
PRESIDENT.
Section 1105 of title 31, United States code, is
amended by inserting at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(g)(1) Except as provided by paragraph (2), any
budget submitted to Congress pursuant to subsection (a)
for the ensuing fiscal year shall not be in deficit.
‘‘(2) For any fiscal year with respect to which the
President determines that it is infeasible to submit a
budget in compliance with paragraph (1), the President
shall submit on the same day two budgets, one of which
shall be in compliance with paragraph (1), together with
written reasons in support of that determination.’’.
TITLE II—AMENDMENT TO
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT OF 1974
SEC. 201. REPORTING OF BALANCED BUDGETS BY COMMIT-
TEES ON THE BUDGET OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE.
Section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974
is amended by inserting at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(j) REPORTING OF BALANCED BUDGETS.—
‘‘(1) Except as provided by paragraph (2), the
concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal year
referred to in subsection (a) as reported by the Com-
mittee on the Budget of each House shall not be in
deficit.
‘‘(2) For any fiscal year with respect to which
the Committee on the Budget of either House deter-
mines that it is infeasible to report a concurrent res-
olution on the budget in compliance with paragraph
(1) and includes written reasons in support of that
determination in its report accompanying a concur-
rent resolution on the budget, the committee shall
report two concurrent resolutions on the budget, one
of which shall be in compliance with paragraph (1).
‘‘(3) Each concurrent resolution on the budget
reported by the Committee on the Budget of either
House shall contain reconciliation directives de-
scribed in section 310 necessary to effectuate the
provisions and requirements of such resolution.’’.
SEC. 202. PROCEDURE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA-
TIVES.
Section 305(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974 is amended by inserting at the end the following:
‘‘(8)(A) If the Committee on Rules of the
House of Representatives reports any rule or order
providing for the consideration of any concurrent
resolution on the budget for a fiscal year, then it
shall also, within the same rule or order, provide
for—
‘‘(i) the consideration of the text of any
concurrent resolution on the budget for that fis-
cal year reported by the Committee on the
Budget of the House of Representatives pursu-
ant to section 301(j); and
‘‘(ii) the consideration of the text of each
concurrent resolution on the budget as intro-
duced by the Majority Leader pursuant to sub-
paragraph (B);
and such rule or order shall assure that a separate
vote occurs on each such budget.
‘‘(B) The Majority Leader of the House of Rep-
resentatives shall introduce a concurrent resolution
on the budget reflecting, without substantive revi-
sion, each budget submitted by the President pursu-
ant to section 1105(g) of title 31, United States
Code, as soon as practicable after its submission.’’.
SEC. 203. PROCEDURE IN THE SENATE.
Section 305(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974 is amended by inserting at the end the following:
‘‘(7) Notwithstanding any other rule, it shall al-
ways be in order in the Senate to consider an
amendment to a concurrent resolution on the budget
for a fiscal year comprising the text of any budget
submitted by the President for that fiscal year as
described in section 1105(g)(1) of title 31, United
States Code, and, whenever applicable, an amend-
ment comprising the text of any other budget sub-
mitted by the President for that fiscal year as de-
scribed in section 1105(g)(2) of title 31, United
States Code.’’.
TITLE III—EFFECTIVE DATE
SEC. 301. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act and the amendments made by it shall be-
come effective for fiscal year 1999 and shall be fully re-
flected in the fiscal year 1999 budget submitted by the
President as required by section 1105(a) of title 31, Unit-
ed States Code.
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