Maximizing America’s Prosperity Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1253 To cap noninterest Federal spending as a percentage of potential GDP to right-size the Government, grow the economy, and balance the budget. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 20, 2021 Mr. BRAUN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget A BILL To cap noninterest Federal spending as a percentage of potential GDP to right-size the Government, grow the economy, and balance the budget. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Maximizing America’s 4 Prosperity Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS. 6 (a) TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS.—Section 251 of the 7 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 8 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901) is amended to read as follows: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1253 IS ‘‘SEC. 251. TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS. 1 ‘‘(a) PROJECTIONS.— 2 ‘‘(1) OMB REPORT.—OMB shall prepare a re- 3 port comparing projected total spending under sec- 4 tion 257 and the total spending limits in subsection 5 (c), and include such report in the budget as sub- 6 mitted by the President annually under section 7 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code. 8 ‘‘(2) CBO REPORT.—CBO shall prepare a re- 9 port comparing projected total spending under sec- 10 tion 257 and the total spending limits in subsection 11 (c), and include such report in the CBO annual 12 baseline and reestimate of the President’s budget. 13 ‘‘(3) INCLUSION IN SPENDING REDUCTION OR- 14 DERS.—Reports prepared pursuant to this sub- 15 section shall be included in a spending reduction 16 order issued under subsection (b). 17 ‘‘(b) SPENDING REDUCTION ORDER.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within 15 calendar days 19 after Congress adjourns to end a session, there shall 20 be a spending reduction order under section 21 254(f)(4). 22 ‘‘(2) CALCULATION OF SPENDING REDUC- 23 TION.—Subject to paragraph (3), each non-exempt 24 budget account shall be reduced by a dollar amount 25 calculated by multiplying the enacted level of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1253 IS sequestrable budgetary resources in that account at 1 that time by the uniform percentage necessary to 2 achieve the required automatic spending reduction. 3 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON REDUCTION.—No budget 4 account shall be subject to a spending reduction of 5 more than 5 percent of the budgetary resources of 6 the budget account. 7 ‘‘(c) FISCAL YEARS OF THE TOTAL SPENDING PE- 8 RIOD.—The total spending limit for each fiscal year shall 9 be as follows: 10 ‘‘(1) Fiscal year 2022: 18.9 percent of potential 11 GDP. 12 ‘‘(2) Fiscal year 2023: 18.6 percent of potential 13 GDP. 14 ‘‘(3) Fiscal year 2024: 18.2 percent of potential 15 GDP. 16 ‘‘(4) Fiscal year 2025: 18.4 percent of potential 17 GDP. 18 ‘‘(5) Fiscal year 2026: 18.4 percent of potential 19 GDP. 20 ‘‘(6) Fiscal year 2027: 18.2 percent of potential 21 GDP. 22 ‘‘(7) Fiscal year 2028: 18.6 percent of potential 23 GDP. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1253 IS ‘‘(8) Fiscal year 2029: 17.9 percent of potential 1 GDP. 2 ‘‘(9) Fiscal year 2030: 17.7 percent of potential 3 GDP. 4 ‘‘(10) Fiscal year 2031 and subsequent fiscal 5 years: 17.5 percent of potential GDP. 6 ‘‘(d) REDUCTION FOR UNFUNDED FEDERAL MAN- 7 DATES.—The amount determined under subsection (c) 8 with respect to each fiscal year shall be reduced by an 9 amount equal to the amount of the unfunded direct costs 10 with respect to such fiscal year of Federal mandates (as 11 such terms are defined in section 421 of the Congressional 12 Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658)) enacted after the date 13 of the enactment of the Maximizing America’s Prosperity 14 Act of 2021. Such amount shall not be treated as being 15 less than zero with respect to any fiscal year.’’. 16 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 250(c) of the Balanced 17 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 18 U.S.C. 900(c)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 19 lowing: 20 ‘‘(22)(A) The term ‘total spending’ means all 21 budget authority and outlays of the Government ex- 22 cluding net interest. 23 ‘‘(B) The term ‘total spending limit’ means the 24 maximum permissible total spending of the Govern- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1253 IS ment set forth as a percentage of estimated potential 1 GDP specified in section 251(c). 2 ‘‘(23) The term ‘potential GDP’ means the 3 gross domestic product that would occur if the econ- 4 omy were at full employment, not exceeding the em- 5 ployment level at which inflation would accelerate.’’. 6 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Part C of the Bal- 7 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 8 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.) is amended— 9 (1) in section 254 (2 U.S.C. 904)— 10 (A) in subsection (a), in the table, by in- 11 serting ‘‘and spending reduction’’ after ‘‘seques- 12 tration’’ each place it appears; 13 (B) in subsection (c)— 14 (i) in the subsection heading, by in- 15 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 16 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; 17 (ii) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘dis- 18 cretionary, pay-as-you-go, and deficit se- 19 questration’’ and inserting ‘‘pay-as-you-go 20 and deficit sequestration and regarding 21 spending reduction’’; 22 (iii) by striking paragraph (2) and in- 23 serting the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1253 IS ‘‘(2) SPENDING REDUCTION REPORT.—The pre- 1 view reports shall set forth for the budget year esti- 2 mates for each of the following: 3 ‘‘(A) Estimated total spending. 4 ‘‘(B) Estimate of potential GDP. 5 ‘‘(C) The spending reduction necessary to 6 comply with the total spending limit under sec- 7 tion 251(c).’’; 8 (C) in subsection (e)— 9 (i) in the subsection heading, by in- 10 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 11 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; and 12 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and spending reduc- 13 tion’’ after ‘‘sequestration’’ each place it 14 appears; and 15 (D) in subsection (f)— 16 (i) in the subsection heading, by in- 17 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 18 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; 19 (ii) in paragraph (1), by inserting 20 ‘‘and spending reduction’’ after ‘‘sequestra- 21 tion’’; 22 (iii) by striking paragraph (2); 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1253 IS (iv) by redesignating paragraphs (3), 1 (4), and (5) as paragraphs (2), (3), and 2 (4), respectively; and 3 (v) in paragraph (2), as so redesig- 4 nated— 5 (I) in the heading, by inserting 6 ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION ’’ before 7 ‘‘ REPORTS’’; 8 (II) in the first sentence, by in- 9 serting ‘‘spending reduction report’’ 10 after ‘‘preview reports’’; and 11 (III) by striking the second sen- 12 tence and inserting the following: ‘‘In 13 addition, these reports shall contain, 14 for the budget year, for each account 15 to be sequestered or subject to a 16 spending reduction, as the case may 17 be, estimates of the baseline level of 18 sequestrable or reducible budgetary 19 resources and resulting outlays and 20 the amount of budgetary resources to 21 be sequestered or reduced and result- 22 ing outlay reductions.’’; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1253 IS (vi) in paragraph (3), as so redesig- 1 nated, by striking ‘‘sequesterable’’ and in- 2 serting ‘‘sequestrable or reducible’’; and 3 (vii) in paragraph (4), as so redesig- 4 nated— 5 (I) by inserting ‘‘or spending re- 6 duction’’ after ‘‘final sequestration’’; 7 (II) by inserting ‘‘or spending re- 8 duction’’ before ‘‘is required’’; and 9 (III) by inserting ‘‘or spending 10 reductions, as the case may be,’’ after 11 ‘‘sequestrations’’; 12 (2) in section 257(a) (2 U.S.C. 907(a)), by in- 13 serting ‘‘total spending,’’ after ‘‘outlays,’’; and 14 (3) in section 258C(a)(1) (2 U.S.C. 15 907d(a)(1))— 16 (A) by inserting ‘‘or spending reduction’’ 17 after ‘‘sequestration’’ each place the term ap- 18 pears; and 19 (B) by striking ‘‘252 or 253’’ and inserting 20 ‘‘251, 252, or 253’’. 21 (d) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 22 section 250(a) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 23 Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900(a)) is amended 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1253 IS by striking the item relating to section 251 and inserting 1 the following: 2 ‘‘Sec. 251. Total spending limits.’’. SEC. 3. ALLOCATION FOR EMERGENCIES. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302(a) of the Congres- 4 sional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 633(a)) is amended 5 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 6 ‘‘(6) ALLOCATION TO THE COMMITTEES ON AP- 7 PROPRIATIONS FOR EMERGENCIES.—Of the amounts 8 of new budget authority and outlays allocated to the 9 Committees on Appropriations for the first fiscal 10 year of the concurrent resolution on the budget, 1 11 percent shall be designated as for emergencies and 12 may be used for no other purpose.’’. 13 (b) BUDGET OF THE PRESIDENT.—Section 14 1105(a)(14) of title 31, United States Code, is amended 15 by inserting ‘‘, including an amount for emergency spend- 16 ing not less than 1 percent of all discretionary spending 17 for that year’’ before the period. 18 SEC. 4. PRESIDENT’S BUDGET SUBMISSIONS TO CONGRESS. 19 Section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, is 20 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 21 section: 22 ‘‘(i)(1) The budget transmitted pursuant to sub- 23 section (a) shall be in compliance with the statutory cap 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1253 IS on Federal spending set forth in the Maximizing Amer- 1 ica’s Prosperity Act of 2021. 2 ‘‘(2) Any budget transmitted pursuant to subsection 3 (a) or paragraph (1) for a fiscal year shall include a 4 prioritization of spending (as described in section 5 256(a)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 6 Control Act of 1985), by ranking all programs, projects, 7 and activities of the Government in five categories from 8 the— 9 ‘‘(A) vital to the general welfare and requires 10 national policy; 11 ‘‘(B) important to the general welfare and re- 12 quires national policy; 13 ‘‘(C) important to the general welfare and bene- 14 fits from national policy; 15 ‘‘(D) advances the general welfare and can 16 largely be accomplished by non-Federal entities; and 17 ‘‘(E) does not clearly advance the general wel- 18 fare and may be unsuited for national policy; 19 with not less than 12 percent of total spending falling into 20 any one category.’’. 21 SEC. 5. CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS ON THE BUDGET. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 312 of the Congressional 23 Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 643) is amended by adding 24 at the end the following new subsection: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1253 IS ‘‘(g) STATUTORY CAP ON TOTAL FEDERAL SPEND- 1 ING POINT OF ORDER.—It shall not be in order in the 2 House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any 3 concurrent resolution on the budget that sets forth total 4 Federal outlays for any fiscal year in excess of those set 5 forth for that fiscal year in section 252A of the Balanced 6 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.’’. 7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsections (c)(2) 8 and (d)(3) of section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act 9 of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 621 note) are each amended by striking 10 ‘‘and 312(c)’’ and inserting ‘‘312(c), and 312(g)’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 May 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1253.IS S1253 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS