S. 45 — Balanced Budget Accountability Act

This section designates the Act as the "Balanced Budget Accountability Act" and states congressional findings, including that the federal debt exceeds $36 trillion, the federal budget has shown an annual deficit in 55 of the last 60 years, and Members of Congress should be held accountable for failing to pass annual budgets that result in a balanced budget.

This section establishes definitions and enforcement mechanisms requiring each House of Congress to adopt a concurrent budget resolution constituting a "balanced budget" for FY2035 and each fiscal year thereafter, defined as one where total outlays do not exceed total receipts and do not exceed 18% of projected U.S. GDP (as determined by the Bureau of Economic Analysis). Upon adoption of a concurrent resolution by a House, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director must determine and certify whether it meets this standard. For FY2026 and FY2027, if OMB does not certify a balanced budget before April 16, 2025 (for FY2026) or April 16, 2026 (for FY2027), the relevant House's payroll administrator must hold all affected Members' compensation in escrow from that date until OMB certification or the last day of the 119th Congress (with standard withholdings applied and amounts released at Congress's end to comply with the 27th Amendment). For FY2028 and subsequent years, if OMB does not certify a balanced budget before April 16 of the prior fiscal year, each affected Member receives pay at an annual rate of $1 during pay periods in the same calendar year after that date.

This section establishes a three-fifths affirmative vote requirement of Members duly chosen and sworn in the Senate and the House of Representatives for any bill, joint resolution, amendment, conference report, or amendment between the Houses that increases revenue. The provision is enacted as an exercise of each chamber's rulemaking power, deemed part of each House's rules and superseding inconsistent rules only for such revenue measures, with each House retaining the constitutional right to change the rule.