IA
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. J. RES. 69
Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United
States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 10, 1997
Mr. CAMPBELL introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution
of the United States.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
( two-thirds of each house concurring therein), That the fol-
lowing article is proposed as an amendment to the Con-
stitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all
intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when
ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several
States within seven years after the date of its submission
for ratification:
•HJ 69 IH
‘‘ARTICLE —
‘‘SECTION 1. Total outlays of the United States for
any fiscal year shall not exceed total receipts for that fiscal
year, unless three fifths of each House of Congress, and
the President, or two thirds of each House of Congress
in the event of the President’s veto, shall provide by law
for a specific excess of outlays over receipts. Congress and
the President shall ensure that actual outlays do not ex-
ceed the outlays set forth by Congress.
‘‘SECTION 2. The amount of Federal public debt as
of the first day of the second fiscal year beginning after
the ratification of this article shall become a permanent
limit on such debt and there shall be no increase in such
amount unless three fifths of each House of Congress, and
the President, or two thirds of each House of Congress
in the event of the President’s veto, shall provide by law
for such an increase.
‘‘SECTION 3. Prior to each fiscal year, the President
shall transmit to the Congress a proposed budget for the
United States Government for that fiscal year, in which
total outlays do not exceed total receipts. Failure to make
such a submission shall disempower the President to veto
the budget resolution approved by Congress for that year.
‘‘SECTION 4. In any year for which no budget resolu-
tion becomes law by the time of expiration of the previous
•HJ 69 IH
year’s resolution, the previous year’s budget resolution
shall constitute a cap on appropriations during the next
year, overall and by category of that resolution, pro tanto,
until a budget resolution for that year does become law.
‘‘SECTION 5. Except as provided herein, total receipts
shall include all receipts of the United States except those
derived from net borrowing. Total outlays shall include all
outlays of the United States except those allocated for re-
payment of debt principal. The receipts (including attrib-
utable interest) and outlays of the Federal Old-Age and
Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability
Insurance Trust Fund, and the Land and Water Con-
servation Fund, and the successors of each, shall not be
counted as receipts or outlays for the purposes of this arti-
cle.
‘‘SECTION 6. The Congress shall enforce and imple-
ment this article by appropriate legislation, which may rely
on estimates of outlays and receipts.
‘‘SECTION 7. This article shall take effect beginning
with fiscal year 2010.’’.
Æ