Congress Proposes Constitutional Amendment to Require a Balanced Federal Budget
A house committee must act next: committee consideration.
No action since July 2025
Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
Federal employees would likely face pay freezes, hiring freezes, benefit reductions, or workforce downsizing as Congress looks for ways to cut spending under a balanced budget amendment. With roughly 2 million civilian federal workers, the federal workforce is a frequent target during deficit-reduction efforts.
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
A bipartisan group of House members is rallying behind a target to reduce deficits to 3 percent of GDP. While budget hawks prefer a more aggressive balanced budget amendment, this resolution seeks a 'sane' path forward amid debt levels reaching 120 percent of the economy.
As the national debt rushes toward $39 trillion, some officials are proposing a balanced budget amendment. The current proposal would give Congress 10 years to reach balance and excludes net interest on the debt from the spending limit to ensure essential services remain funded.
Congressman Andy Biggs highlighted H.J. Res. 139, a Balanced Budget Amendment, as a core priority following the State of the Union. The amendment would require the federal government to operate under a balanced budget, excluding borrowed funds from being counted as revenue.
No votes or related bills recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
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