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United States · Bill · SJRES

S.J.Res. 18 (116th)

A joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

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

  1. 4 April 2019

    Introduced

    Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 4 April 2019

    Introduced

    Introduced in Senate

    Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in Senate (text)

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  • Introduced in Senate (text)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 4 April 2019

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

  • Introduced in Senate (PDF)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 4 April 2019

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

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  • Introduced in Senate

    summary · EN · 4 April 2019

    Open at official source

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Sponsors

Related records

Sources

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