IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 73 
Effectuating the Compact for a Balanced Budget. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 26, 2017 
Mr. MESSER (for himself, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. HARPER, and Mr. JODY B. HICE 
of Georgia) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Effectuating the Compact for a Balanced Budget. 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), 
SECTION 1. CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO EFFECTUATE 
THE COMPACT FOR A BALANCED BUDGET. 
(a) DECLARATION.—The Congress determines and 
declares that this concurrent resolution calls the Conven-
tion contemplated by the Compact for a Balanced Budget 
under article V of the United States Constitution, and re-
fers for ratification the Balanced Budget Amendment con-
templated by the Compact for a Balanced Budget. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this resolution is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Concurrent resolution to effectuate the Compact for a Balanced Budget. 
TITLE I—CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROSPECTIVELY CALLING 
CONVENTION CONTEMPLATED BY COMPACT FOR A BALANCED 
BUDGET 
Sec. 101. Effective date. 
Sec. 102. Convention call. 
Sec. 103. Termination date. 
TITLE II—CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROSPECTIVELY REFER-
RING THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT TO STATE LEGIS-
LATURES FOR RATIFICATION 
Sec. 201. Effective date. 
Sec. 202. Referral to legislatures of the several States for ratification. 
TITLE I—CONCURRENT RESOLU-
TION PROSPECTIVELY CALL-
ING 
CONVENTION 
CON-
TEMPLATED 
BY 
COMPACT 
FOR A BALANCED BUDGET 
SEC. 101. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This title does not take effect until Congress receives 
sufficient certified conforming copies of the chaptered 
version of the Compact for a Balanced Budget formed ini-
tially by the State of Georgia and the State of Alaska pur-
suant to 2014 Georgia Laws Act 475 (H.B. 794) and 
2014 Alaska Laws Ch. 12 (H.B. 284), respectively, as it 
may be joined by additional States and amended from 
time to time (‘‘Compact for a Balanced Budget’’), evidenc-
ing that at least three-fourths of the several States are 
Member States of the Compact for a Balanced Budget and 
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have made application thereunder for a convention for 
proposing amendments under article V of the United 
States Constitution. 
SEC. 102. CONVENTION CALL. 
Upon the effective date of this title, be it resolved 
by the House of Representatives of the United States (the 
Senate concurring), Congress hereby calls a convention for 
proposing amendments under article V of the United 
States Constitution in accordance with the Compact for 
a Balanced Budget. 
SEC. 103. TERMINATION DATE. 
If for any reason the convention for proposing 
amendments under article V of the United States Con-
stitution contemplated herein has not permanently ad-
journed within one year from the effective date of this 
title, all titles of this resolution shall become null and void 
ab initio and shall be deemed repealed in its entirety. 
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fourths of the several States within seven years after the 
date of its submission for ratification: 
‘‘ARTICLE — 
‘‘SECTION 1. Total outlays of the Government of the 
United States shall not exceed total receipts of the Gov-
ernment of the United States at any point in time unless 
the excess of outlays over receipts is financed exclusively 
by debt issued in strict conformity with this article. 
‘‘SECTION 2. Outstanding debt shall not exceed au-
thorized debt, which initially shall be an amount equal to 
105 percent of the outstanding debt on the effective date 
of this article. Authorized debt shall not be increased 
above its aforesaid initial amount unless such increase is 
first approved by the legislatures of the several States as 
provided in section 3. 
‘‘SECTION 3. From time to time, Congress may in-
crease authorized debt to an amount in excess of its initial 
amount set by section 2 only if it first publicly refers to 
the legislatures of the several States an unconditional, sin-
gle subject measure proposing the amount of such in-
crease, in such form as provided by law, and the measure 
is thereafter publicly and unconditionally approved by a 
simple majority of the legislatures of the several States, 
in such form as provided respectively by State law; pro-
vided that no inducement requiring an expenditure or tax 
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levy shall be demanded, offered or accepted as a quid pro 
quo for such approval. If such approval is not obtained 
within 60 calendar days after referral then the measure 
shall be deemed disapproved and the authorized debt shall 
thereby remain unchanged. 
‘‘SECTION 4. Whenever the outstanding debt exceeds 
98 percent of the debt limit set by section 2, the President 
shall enforce said limit by publicly designating specific ex-
penditures for impoundment in an amount sufficient to 
ensure outstanding debt shall not exceed the authorized 
debt. Said impoundment shall become effective 30 days 
thereafter, unless Congress first designates an alternate 
impoundment of the same or greater amount by concur-
rent resolution, which shall become immediately effective. 
The failure of the President to designate or enforce the 
required impoundment is an impeachable misdemeanor. 
Any purported issuance or incurrence of any debt in excess 
of the debt limit set by section 2 is void. 
‘‘SECTION 5. No bill that provides for a new or in-
creased general revenue tax shall become law unless ap-
proved by a two-thirds roll call vote of the whole number 
of each House of Congress. However, this requirement 
shall not apply to any bill that provides for a new end 
user sales tax which would completely replace every exist-
ing income tax levied by the Government of the United 
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States; or for the reduction or elimination of an exemp-
tion, deduction, or credit allowed under an existing general 
revenue tax. 
‘‘SECTION 6. For purposes of this article, ‘debt’ 
means any obligation backed by the full faith and credit 
of the Government of the United States; ‘outstanding 
debt’ means all debt held in any account and by any entity 
at a given point in time; ‘authorized debt’ means the max-
imum total amount of debt that may be lawfully issued 
and outstanding at any single point in time under this 
article; ‘total outlays of the Government of the United 
States’ means all expenditures of the Government of the 
United States from any source; ‘total receipts of the Gov-
ernment of the United States’ means all tax receipts and 
other income of the Government of the United States, ex-
cluding proceeds from its issuance or incurrence of debt 
or any type of liability; ‘impoundment’ means a proposal 
not to spend all or part of a sum of money appropriated 
by Congress; and ‘general revenue tax’ means any income 
tax, sales tax, or value-added tax levied by the Government 
of the United States excluding imposts and duties. 
‘‘SECTION 7. This article is immediately operative 
upon ratification, self-enforcing, and Congress may enact 
conforming legislation to facilitate enforcement.’’. 
Æ 
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