United States · Bill · SJRES
S.J.Res. 18 (116th)
A joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Introduced
4 April 2019
Last action
4 April 2019 · Introduced
Status
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Sponsors
Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT], Sen. Manchin, Joe, III [D-WV], Sen. Sinema, Kyrsten [I-AZ]
Subjects
Defence, Rule of law, Taxation, Budget
Source updated
10 August 2026
Defence · Rule of law · Taxation · Budget
Summary
Constitutional Amendment This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment prohibiting total outlays for a fiscal year from exceeding total receipts for that fiscal year unless Congress authorizes the excess by a three-fifths roll call vote of each chamber. The prohibition excludes outlays for repayment of debt principal, receipts derived from borrowing, receipts or outlays of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, and outlays relating to a natural disaster if the law providing the funds explicitly exempts the funds from the requirement and is agreed to by a majority of each chamber of Congress. The amendment requires the President to annually submit to Congress a budget in which total outlays do not exceed total receipts. The amendment specifies exceptions to the requirements if a declaration of war is in effect, the United States is engaged in military conflict that causes an imminent and serious military threat to national security, economic growth is less than 0%, or the unemployment rate is more than 7%. The amendment prohibits a court from enforcing the requirements by ordering cuts to Social Security or Medicare payments unless the funds available to the trust fund for a program are not sufficient to cover the outlays that would occur during the year if the fund were fully solvent.
This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.
Timeline
4 April 2019
Introduced
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Source: IntroReferral
4 April 2019
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
Source: IntroReferral
Votes
No vote records are attached yet.
Versions
- Introduced in Senate · 4 April 2019 · Download file
Documents
3 official files
Introduced in Senate (text)
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Introduced in Senate (text)
Introduced in Senate · EN · 4 April 2019
Introduced in Senate (PDF)
Introduced in Senate · EN · 4 April 2019
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Introduced in Senate
summary · EN · 4 April 2019
Leesvertaling
Vertaal dit document naar jouw taal. PoliticalRepo bewaart geen aparte kopie per EU-taal.
Documentvertaling op verzoek met downloadbare PDF (logo + link naar de officiële bron). Het bronbestand blijft leidend.
Sponsors
- Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT] · D · Sponsor
- Sen. Manchin, Joe, III [D-WV] · D · Sponsor
- Sen. Sinema, Kyrsten [I-AZ] · D · Sponsor
- · ssju00 · Standing
Related records
- related to → Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to provide for balanced budgets for the Government.
- related to → Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
- related to ← Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Sources
PoliticalRepo is an index and interpretation layer, not the authoritative legal source.
- Official source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/18
- Open data entity: https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/116/sjres/18
- us · 116-sjres-18 · source updated 10 August 2026