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All recent votes112th CongressHouse and Senate
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011 - Title I: Cut - (Sec. 101) Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) to make it out of order in both chambers to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report that would cause the discretionary spending limits established in this Act to be exceeded.
Establishes the discretionary spending limits for FY2012 as $1,019,402,000,000 in new budget authority and $1,224,568,000,000 in outlays.
Authorizes the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Budget to adjust such limits, budgetary aggregates in the most recently adopted concurrent budget resolution, and CBA committee allocations if a bill or joint resolution is reported making appropriations for FY2012 that provides funding for the global war on terrorism.
Makes it out of order in both chambers to consider any legislation that includes any provision that would cause total direct spending to exceed the spending limit specified in this Act. Exempts from such spending limits: (1) Social Security, function 650; (2) Medicare, function 570; (3) Veterans Benefits and Services, function 700; and (4) Net Interest, function 900.
Makes $680.73 billion the limit on total combined outlays for all non-exempt direct spending for FY2012.
(Sec. 102) Amends the CBA to prescribe requirements for implementing sequestration orders under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to enforce the discretionary and direct spending caps in this Act.
Exempts from any sequestration orders: (1) payments for military personnel accounts (within subfunctional category 051), (2) TRICARE for Life, (3) Medicare (functional category 570), (4) military retirement, (5) Social Security (functional category 650), (6) veterans (functional category 700), (7) net interest (functional category 900), and (8) discretionary appropriations.
Makes it out of order in both chambers to consider legislation which waives, modifies, or in any way alters a sequestration order unless the chair of the House or Senate Committee on the Budget certifies that the measure achieves the same levels of reductions in new budget authority and outlays for the applicable year in such order.
Title II: Cap - (Sec. 201) Amends the CBA to prescribe requirements for enforcing GDP outlay limits.
Requires: (1) the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to establish in the President's budget the GDP outlay limit for the budget year, and (2) total federal outlays to include all on-budget and off-budget outlays.
Jul 19, 2011Each bar: ✓ Yea from the bottom, ✕ Nay aboveJul 22, 2011
House Jul 19, 2011 · the primary vote
Cut, Cap, and Balance Act
Passed
234 Yea 190 Nay 8 not voting
Party-line vote 14 of 424 voting members broke with their own party: 5 Democrats, 9 Republicans.
DemocratsRepublicansFilled: YeaRing: NayGrey: not voting or present
432 members on this roll call, from the official House record. Party majorities need at least five voting members, so an independent never counts as breaking with a party.
Signing on is not a vote: a member can cosponsor H.R. 2560 and vote against it. 87 signed when it was filed.
(Sec. 202) Amends the CBA to make it out of order in both chambers to consider any legislation that would cause the most recently reported current GDP outlay limits set forth in this Act to be exceeded.
Title III: Balance - (Sec. 301) Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury from exercising additional borrowing authority until the date that the Archivist of the United States transmits to the states for their ratification H.J. Res. 1 (as reported on June 23, 2011), S.J. Res. 10 (as introduced on March 31, 2011), or H.J. Res. 56 (as introduced on April 7, 2011), a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, or a similar amendment if it requires that total outlays not exceed total receipts, contains a spending limitation as a percentage of GDP, and requires that tax increases be approved by a two-thirds vote in both chambers.
Increases the public debt from $14.294 trillion to $16.7 trillion on the date such legislation is transmitted to the states.
Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, describing H.R. 2560 as passed House without amendment on Jul 19, 2011. It is not the text of the measure; a later amendment may have changed what it does.
Organizations that named H.R. 2560 in a lobbying disclosure. Only those that cited the bill by number appear, so this is a floor, not a full list.
82 disclosures name this measure. Retrieved from LDA.gov on 2026-10-05. Senate Office of Public Records cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from LDA.gov.