On Thursday, Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-1) introduced House Joint Resolution 6, a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution.
The bill was introduced on the first day of the 116th Congress and marked the first piece of legislation introduced by Byrne in the new Congress, which sees the Democrats back in the majority. Byrne’s bill was immediately referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
In a press release, Byrne said, “We must balance the budget, and the time to do that is now. We must stop passing debt down to the next generation.”
The Republican congressman continued, “Families, businesses, states, counties, and cities must have a balanced budget. Why should the federal government of the most powerful nation in the world not have to play by the same rules?”
Byrne introduced a similar bill at the start of the 115th Congress in 2017 and the 114th Congress in 2015. Neither of these previous bills received a vote in committee or on the House floor.
“I feel very strongly about this, and that is why I have introduced a Balanced Budget Amendment at the start of every Congress since I was elected,” Byrne emphasized. “It is time to balance our budget.”
If adopted by Congress and passed by three-fourths of state legislatures, Byrne’s constitutional amendment would force the federal government to live within its means.
The major provisions of the proposed amendment require the following:
- total outlays for any fiscal year do not exceed total receipts for that fiscal year,
- total outlays for any fiscal year do not exceed one-fifth of economic output of the United States and
- the President submits a balanced budget proposal to Congress each year.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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