United States · Bill · SJRES
S.J.Res. 39 (115th)
A joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Introduced
30 March 2017
Last action
30 March 2017 · Introduced
Status
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Sponsors
Sen. Donnelly, Joe [D-IN], Sen. Heitkamp, Heidi [D-ND], Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT], Sen. Manchin, Joe, III [D-WV], Sen. McCaskill, Claire [D-MO]
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 resolution requires the President to annually submit to Congress a budget in which total outlays do not exceed total receipts. The balanced budget requirement does not apply if: a declaration of war is in effect or if the United States is engaged in military conflict which causes an imminent and serious military threat to national security; or during the fiscal year or preceding fiscal year, the U.S. economy grew by less than 0% in real gross domestic product during two or more consecutive quarters or the unemployment rate was more than 7% during two or more consecutive months. The resolution 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
30 March 2017
Introduced
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Source: IntroReferral
30 March 2017
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
Source: IntroReferral
Votes
No vote records are attached yet.
Versions
- Introduced in Senate · 30 March 2017 · Download file
Documents
3 official files
Introduced in Senate (text)
This file cannot be previewed here. Use View or Download.
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.
Introduced in Senate (text)
Introduced in Senate · EN · 30 March 2017
Introduced in Senate (PDF)
Introduced in Senate · EN · 30 March 2017
ViewDownloadOpen at official source
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.
Introduced in Senate
summary · EN · 30 March 2017
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. Donnelly, Joe [D-IN] · D · Sponsor
- Sen. Heitkamp, Heidi [D-ND] · D · Sponsor
- Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT] · D · Sponsor
- Sen. Manchin, Joe, III [D-WV] · D · Sponsor
- Sen. McCaskill, Claire [D-MO] · D · Cosponsor
- · ssju00 · Standing
Related records
Sources
PoliticalRepo is an index and interpretation layer, not the authoritative legal source.
- Official source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/39
- Open data entity: https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/115/sjres/39
- us · 115-sjres-39 · source updated 10 August 2026