Balanced Budget Accountability Act
Bill: S.48 | Sponsor: Sen. Daines, Steve (R-MT)
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
Balanced Budget Accountability Act
This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), upon adoption by a chamber of Congress of a concurrent budget resolution for a fiscal year, to certify to the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the President pro tempore of the Senate whether that chamber has adopted a balanced budget.
Balanced budget means a concurrent budget resolution providing that for FY2031 and each succeeding fiscal year to which the resolution applies total outlays do not exceed total receipts and are not more than 18% of the projected domestic product for such fiscal year.
The bill requires the salary of Members of Congress to be held in escrow if OMB determines a chamber has not adopted a balanced budget for FY2022 before April 16, 2021, and for FY2023 before April 16, 2022. The bill also provides for the release of these funds to the Members.
Beginning in FY2024, if OMB does not certify that a chamber has adopted a balanced budget before April 16 of the prior fiscal year, each Member of that chamber shall be paid at the rate of $1 annually for pay periods after that date in the same calendar year.
The bill also requires that legislation in either chamber to increase revenue be agreed upon by an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of that chamber.

To reduce a portion of the annual pay of Members of Congress for the 
 failure to adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget which does not 
         provide for a balanced budget, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Balanced Budget 
Accountability Act''.
    (b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Federal debt exceeds $27,000,000,000,000, continues 
        to grow rapidly, and is larger than the size of the United 
        States economy.
            (2) The Federal budget has shown an annual deficit in 51 of 
        the last 56 years.
            (3) Deficits and the Federal debt threaten to shatter 
        confidence in the Nation's economy, suppress job creation and 
        economic growth, and leave future generations of Americans with 
        a lower standard of living and fewer opportunities.
            (4) It is the duty of Members of Congress to develop and 
        implement policies, including balancing the Federal budget, 
        that encourage robust job creation and economic growth in the 
        United States.
            (5) Members of Congress should be held accountable for 
        failing to pass annual budgets that result in a balanced 
        budget.

SEC. 2. EFFECT OF FAILURE TO ADOPT RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR BALANCED 
              BUDGETS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``balanced budget'' means a concurrent 
        resolution on the budget which provides that for fiscal year 
        2031, and each fiscal year thereafter to which the concurrent 
        resolution on the budget applies--
                    (A) total outlays do not exceed total receipts; and
                    (B) total outlays are not more than 18 percent of 
                the projected gross domestic product of the United 
                States (as determined by the Bureau of Economic 
                Analysis of the Department of Commerce) for such fiscal 
                year;
            (2) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the Office 
        of Management and Budget; and
            (3) the term ``Member'' includes a Delegate or Resident 
        Commissioner to Congress.
    (b) Determination by the Office of Management and Budget.--Upon 
adoption by a House of Congress of a concurrent resolution on the 
budget for a fiscal year, the Director shall--
            (1) determine whether the concurrent resolution on the 
        budget is a balanced budget; and
            (2) submit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
        or the President pro tempore of the Senate (as the case may be) 
        a certification as to whether or not that House of Congress has 
        adopted a balanced budget.
    (c) Rule for Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023.--
            (1) Fiscal year 2022.--
                    (A)  Holding salaries in escrow.--If the Director 
                does not certify that a House of Congress has adopted a 
                balanced budget with respect to fiscal year 2022 before 
                April 16, 2021, during the period described in 
                subparagraph (B) the payroll administrator of that 
                House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow account 
                all payments otherwise required to be made during such 
                period for the compensation of Members of Congress who 
                serve in that House of Congress, and shall release such 
                payments to such Members only upon the expiration of 
                such period.
                    (B) Period described.--With respect to a House of 
                Congress, the period described in this subparagraph is 
                the period that begins on April 16, 2021, and ends on 
                the earlier of--
                            (i) the date on which the Director 
                        certifies that the House of Congress has 
                        adopted a balanced budget with respect to 
                        fiscal year 2022; or
                            (ii) the last day of the One Hundred 
                        Seventeenth Congress.
            (2) Fiscal year 2023.--
                    (A)  Holding salaries in escrow.--If the Director 
                does not certify that a House of Congress has adopted a 
                balanced budget with respect to fiscal year 2023 before 
                April 16, 2022, during the period described in 
                subparagraph (B) the payroll administrator of that 
                House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow account 
                all payments otherwise required to be made during such 
                period for the compensation of Members of Congress who 
                serve in that House of Congress, and shall release such 
                payments to such Members only upon the expiration of 
                such period.
                    (B) Period described.--With respect to a House of 
                Congress, the period described in this subparagraph is 
                the period that begins on April 16, 2022, and ends on 
                the earlier of--
                            (i) the date on which the Director 
                        certifies that the House of Congress has 
                        adopted a balanced budget with respect to 
                        fiscal year 2023; or
                            (ii) the last day of the One Hundred 
                        Seventeenth Congress.
            (3) Withholding and remittance of amounts from payments 
        held in escrow.--The payroll administrator shall provide for 
        the same withholding and remittance with respect to a payment 
        deposited in an escrow account under paragraph (1) or (2) that 
        would apply to the payment if the payment were not subject to 
        paragraph (1) or (2).
            (4) Release of amounts at end of the congress.--In order to 
        ensure that this subsection is carried out in a manner that 
        shall not vary the compensation of Senators or Representatives 
        in violation of the twenty-seventh amendment to the 
        Constitution of the United States, the payroll administrator of 
        a House of Congress shall release for payments to Members of 
        that House of Congress any amounts remaining in any escrow 
        account under this section on the last day of the One Hundred 
        Seventeenth Congress.
            (5) Role of secretary of the treasury.--The Secretary of 
        the Treasury shall provide the payroll administrators of the 
        Houses of Congress with such assistance as may be necessary to 
        enable the payroll administrators to carry out this subsection.
            (6) Payroll administrator defined.--In this subsection, the 
        ``payroll administrator'' of a House of Congress means--
                    (A) in the case of the House of Representatives, 
                the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of 
                Representatives, or an employee of the Office of the 
                Chief Administrative Officer who is designated by the 
                Chief Administrative Officer to carry out this section; 
                and
                    (B) in the case of the Senate, the Secretary of the 
                Senate, or an employee of the Office of the Secretary 
                of the Senate who is designated by the Secretary to 
                carry out this section.
    (d) Rule for Fiscal Year 2024 and Subsequent Fiscal Years.--If the 
Director does not certify that a House of Congress has adopted a 
balanced budget with respect to fiscal year 2024, or any fiscal year 
thereafter, before April 16 of the fiscal year before such fiscal year, 
during pay periods which occur in the same calendar year after that 
date each Member of that House shall be paid at an annual rate of pay 
equal to $1.

SEC. 3. SUPERMAJORITY REQUIREMENT FOR INCREASING REVENUE.

    (a) In General.--In the Senate and the House of Representatives, a 
bill, joint resolution, amendment, conference report, or amendment 
between the Houses that increases revenue shall only be agreed to upon 
an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of that House of 
Congress duly chosen and sworn.
    (b) Rules of Senate and the House of Representatives.--Subsection 
(a) is enacted by Congress--
            (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate 
        and House of Representatives, respectively, and as such it is 
        deemed a part of the rules of each House, respectively, but 
        applicable only with respect to the procedure to be followed in 
        that House in the case of a bill, joint resolution, amendment, 
        conference report, or amendment between the Houses that 
        increases revenue, and it supersedes other rules only to the 
        extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and
            (2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of 
        either House to change the rules (so far as relating to the 
        procedure of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and 
        to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that 
        House.
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