I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4815
To provide that pay for Members of Congress shall be reduced whenever
total expenditures of the Federal Government exceed total receipts in
any fiscal year, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 22, 1994
Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. NUSSLE, and Mr. HALL of
Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the
Committees on House Administration, Post Office and Civil Service, and
Rules
A BILL
To provide that pay for Members of Congress shall be re-
duced whenever total expenditures of the Federal Gov-
ernment exceed total receipts in any fiscal year, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Fiscal
Responsibility Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. PROVISIONS RELATING TO MEMBERS’ PAY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 601(a) of the Legislative
Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 31) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3)(A) For purposes of this paragraph, any deter-
mination as to whether total receipts of the Federal Gov-
ernment are greater than, less than, or equal to its total
expenditures in a fiscal year shall be determined using
total public expenditures, respectively, as indicated in the
report submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury to the
Congress under section 331(c) of title 31, United States
Code, for such year.
‘‘(B) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this
subsection, whenever the total expenditures of the Federal
Government exceed its total receipts for a fiscal year, the
annual rate of pay for each position under paragraph (1)
(A)–(C) shall be reduced by 5 percent for fiscal year 1998,
10 percent for fiscal year 1999, 10 percent for fiscal year
2000, and 10 percent for fiscal year 2001, effective as of
the first applicable pay period beginning on or after the
date as of which Congress receives the report (referred to
in subparagraph (A)) relating to such fiscal year. Such
reductions shall be cumulative and the total of such reduc-
tions may not exceed 35 percent.
‘‘(C) Effective as of the first applicable pay period
beginning on or after the date as of which Congress re-
ceives a report (referred to in subparagraph (A)) indicat-
ing that total receipts of the Federal Government are
greater than or equal to its total expenditures for a fiscal
year—
‘‘(i) all reductions under subparagraph (B) then
in effect shall be disregarded; and
‘‘(ii) pay for each position under paragraph (1)
(A)–(C) shall be restored to the level which would
then be in effect for such position if this paragraph
had never been enacted.
‘‘(D) A pay adjustment under subparagraph (B) or
(C) shall be made before any other adjustment otherwise
scheduled to take effect on the same day for the same posi-
tion.’’.
(b) PROCEDURES.—(1) It shall not be in order in ei-
ther the House of Representatives or the Senate to con-
sider any bill or resolution which would increase the rate
of basic pay for the Members of Congress (excluding any
bill or resolution to which section 225(i) of the Federal
Salary Act of 1967 applies) unless that bill or resolution
deals with no subject matter other than a pay increase
for Members.
(2) Any bill or resolution which is subject to para-
graph (1) may be passed or adopted, as the case may be,
by the House of Representatives or the Senate only by
a vote recorded so as to reflect the vote of each Member
voting.
(3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) are enacted by Con-
gress—
(A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of
the House of Representatives and the Senate, re-
spectively, and such rules shall supersede other rules
only to the extent that they are inconsistent there-
with; and
(B) with full recognition of the constitutional
right of each House to change such rules (so far as
relating to such House) at any time, in such man-
ner, and to the same extent as in the case of any
other rule of such House.
Æ