Balanced Budget Amendment

The Declaration of Independence

SECTION 1. Except as provided in section 2 of this article, the aggregate amount of expenditures made by the Government during any fiscal year shall not exceed the net amount of revenue received by the Government during that fiscal year.

SECTION 2. The provisions of section 1 shall not apply to any fiscal year--


 * (1) if at any time during that fiscal year the United States is in a state of war declared by the Congress pursuant to section 8 of article I of this Constitution, or


 * (2) if, with respect to that fiscal year, the Senate and the House of Representatives each voting by at least two-thirds of its membership agree to a concurrent resolution stating, in substance, that a national economic emergency requires the suspension of the application of section 1 for that fiscal year.


 * In exercising its power under paragraph (2) of this section, the Senate and House of Representatives shall take into consideration the extent and rate of industrial activity, unemployment, and inflation, and such other factors as they deem appropriate.

SECTION 3. The Congress shall have power to carry this article into effect by appropriate legislation.

SECTION 4. This article shall take effect on the first day of the first fiscal year which begins after the date of its ratification.

SECTION 5. This article shall be inoperative unless it is ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.