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Congress.gov119th Congress

H.J.Res. 3

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to balancing the budget.

Introduced Jan 3, 2025Latest action Jan 3, 2025Economics and Public Finance

Plain-English summary

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 two-thirds vote of each chamber. The prohibition excludes outlays for repayment of debt principal and receipts derived from borrowing. The amendment prohibits total outlays for any fiscal year from exceeding 18% of the gross domestic product of the United States unless two-thirds of each chamber of Congress provides for a specific increase above this amount. The amendment requires a two-thirds vote of each chamber of Congress to impose a new tax, increase the statutory rate of any tax, or increase the aggregate amount of revenue.

Deterministically condensed from the official CRS summary; verify details in the official record.

People and recorded decisions

Sponsors, Cosponsors & House Votes

No linked House roll-call vote is available yet. Senate votes are not currently synchronized.

Official Subjects

Economics and Public FinanceBudget deficits and national debtBudget processConstitution and constitutional amendmentsIncome tax ratesLegislative rules and procedure

Sources & text

Congress.gov data last updated Sep 3, 2026. Automated summaries preserve a source version and generation timestamp; human edits are explicitly recorded.