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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 and receipts derived from borrowing.
The amendment requires a three-fifths roll call vote of each chamber of Congress to increase the public debt limit. It requires a majority roll vote of each chamber to increase revenue. It also requires the President to submit a balanced budget to Congress annually.
Congress is authorized to waive these requirements when a declaration of war is in effect or if the United States is engaged in a military conflict which causes an imminent and serious military threat to national security.
Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, describing H.J.Res. 2 as introduced in House on Jan 3, 2017. It is not the text of the measure; a later amendment may have changed what it does.
House Apr 12, 2018
Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States
Failed · Two-thirds required
233 Yea 184 Nay 11 not voting
Party-line vote 13 of 417 voting members broke with their own party: 7 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
DemocratsRepublicansFilled: YeaRing: NayGrey: not voting or present
428 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.J.Res. 2 and vote against it. 5 signed when it was filed.
Organizations that named H.J.Res. 2 in a lobbying disclosure. Only those that cited the bill by number appear, so this is a floor, not a full list.
32 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.