Maximizing America’s Prosperity Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3930 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 24, 2019 Mr. BRADY (for himself, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. DAVIDSON of Ohio, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. WILLIAMS, and Mr. WRIGHT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned 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 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3930.IH H3930 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3930 IH SEC. 2. TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS. 1 (a) TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS.—Section 251 of the 2 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 3 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901) is amended to read as follows: 4 ‘‘SEC. 251. TOTAL SPENDING LIMITS. 5 ‘‘(a) PROJECTIONS.— 6 ‘‘(1) OMB REPORT.—OMB shall prepare a re- 7 port comparing projected total spending under sec- 8 tion 257 and the total spending limits in subsection 9 (c), and include such report in the budget as sub- 10 mitted by the President annually under section 11 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code. 12 ‘‘(2) CBO REPORT.—CBO shall prepare a re- 13 port comparing projected total spending under sec- 14 tion 257 and the total spending limits in subsection 15 (c), and include such report in the CBO annual 16 baseline and reestimate of the President’s budget. 17 ‘‘(3) INCLUSION IN SPENDING REDUCTION OR- 18 DERS.—Reports prepared pursuant to this sub- 19 section shall be included in a spending reduction 20 order issued under subsection (b). 21 ‘‘(b) SPENDING REDUCTION ORDER.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within 15 calendar days 23 after Congress adjourns to end a session, there shall 24 be a spending reduction order under section 25 254(f)(4). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3930.IH H3930 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3930 IH ‘‘(2) CALCULATION OF SPENDING REDUC- 1 TION.—Subject to paragraph (3), each non-exempt 2 budget account shall be reduced by a dollar amount 3 calculated by multiplying the enacted level of 4 sequestrable budgetary resources in that account at 5 that time by the uniform percentage necessary to 6 achieve the required automatic spending reduction. 7 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON REDUCTION.—No budget 8 account shall be subject to a spending reduction of 9 more than 5 percent of the budgetary resources of 10 the budget account. 11 ‘‘(c) FISCAL YEARS OF THE TOTAL SPENDING PE- 12 RIOD.—The total spending limit for each fiscal year shall 13 be as follows: 14 ‘‘(1) Fiscal year 2022: 18.9 percent of potential 15 GDP. 16 ‘‘(2) Fiscal year 2023: 18.6 percent of potential 17 GDP. 18 ‘‘(3) Fiscal year 2024: 18.2 percent of potential 19 GDP. 20 ‘‘(4) Fiscal year 2025: 18.4 percent of potential 21 GDP. 22 ‘‘(5) Fiscal year 2026: 18.4 percent of potential 23 GDP. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3930.IH H3930 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3930 IH ‘‘(6) Fiscal year 2027: 18.2 percent of potential 1 GDP. 2 ‘‘(7) Fiscal year 2028: 18.6 percent of potential 3 GDP. 4 ‘‘(8) Fiscal year 2029: 17.9 percent of potential 5 GDP. 6 ‘‘(9) Fiscal year 2030: 17.7 percent of potential 7 GDP. 8 ‘‘(10) Fiscal year 2031 and subsequent fiscal 9 years: 17.5 percent of potential GDP. 10 ‘‘(d) REDUCTION FOR UNFUNDED FEDERAL MAN- 11 DATES.—The amount determined under subsection (c) 12 with respect to each fiscal year shall be reduced by an 13 amount equal to the amount of the unfunded direct costs 14 with respect to such fiscal year of Federal mandates (as 15 such terms are defined in section 421 of the Congressional 16 Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658)) enacted after the date 17 of the enactment of the Maximizing America’s Prosperity 18 Act of 2019. Such amount shall not be treated as being 19 less than zero with respect to any fiscal year.’’. 20 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 250(c) of the Balanced 21 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 22 U.S.C. 900(c)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3930.IH H3930 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3930 IH ‘‘(22)(A) The term ‘total spending’ means all 1 budget authority and outlays of the Government ex- 2 cluding net interest. 3 ‘‘(B) The term ‘total spending limit’ means the 4 maximum permissible total spending of the Govern- 5 ment set forth as a percentage of estimated potential 6 GDP specified in section 251(c). 7 ‘‘(23) The term ‘potential GDP’ means the 8 gross domestic product that would occur if the econ- 9 omy were at full employment, not exceeding the em- 10 ployment level at which inflation would accelerate.’’. 11 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Part C of the Bal- 12 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 13 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.) is amended— 14 (1) in section 254 (2 U.S.C. 904)— 15 (A) in subsection (a), in the table, by in- 16 serting ‘‘and spending reduction’’ after ‘‘seques- 17 tration’’ each place it appears; 18 (B) in subsection (c)— 19 (i) in the subsection heading, by in- 20 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 21 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; 22 (ii) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘dis- 23 cretionary, pay-as-you-go, and deficit se- 24 questration’’ and inserting ‘‘pay-as-you-go 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3930.IH H3930 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3930 IH and deficit sequestration and regarding 1 spending reduction’’; 2 (iii) by striking paragraph (2) and in- 3 serting the following: 4 ‘‘(2) SPENDING REDUCTION REPORT.—The pre- 5 view reports shall set forth for the budget year esti- 6 mates for each of the following: 7 ‘‘(A) Estimated total spending. 8 ‘‘(B) Estimate of potential GDP. 9 ‘‘(C) The spending reduction necessary to 10 comply with the total spending limit under sec- 11 tion 251(c).’’; 12 (C) in subsection (e)— 13 (i) in the subsection heading, by in- 14 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 15 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; and 16 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and spending reduc- 17 tion’’ after ‘‘sequestration’’ each place it 18 appears; and 19 (D) in subsection (f)— 20 (i) in the subsection heading, by in- 21 serting ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION’’ 22 after ‘‘SEQUESTRATION’’; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3930.IH H3930 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3930 IH (ii) in paragraph (1), by inserting 1 ‘‘and spending reduction’’ after ‘‘sequestra- 2 tion’’; 3 (iii) by striking paragraph (2); 4 (iv) by redesignating paragraphs (3), 5 (4), and (5) as paragraphs (2), (3), and 6 (4), respectively; and 7 (v) in paragraph (2), as so redesig- 8 nated— 9 (I) in the heading, by inserting 10 ‘‘AND SPENDING REDUCTION ’’ before 11 ‘‘ REPORTS’’; 12 (II) in the first sentence, by in- 13 serting ‘‘spending reduction report’’ 14 after ‘‘preview reports’’; and 15 (III) by striking the second sen- 16 tence and inserting the following: ‘‘In 17 addition, these reports shall contain, 18 for the budget year, for each account 19 to be sequestered or subject to a 20 spending reduction, as the case may 21 be, estimates of the baseline level of 22 sequestrable or reducible budgetary 23 resources and resulting outlays and 24 the amount of budgetary resources to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3930.IH H3930 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3930 IH be sequestered or reduced and result- 1 ing outlay reductions.’’; 2 (vi) in paragraph (3), as so redesig- 3 nated, by striking ‘‘sequesterable’’ and in- 4 serting ‘‘sequestrable or reducible’’; and 5 (vii) in paragraph (4), as so redesig- 6 nated— 7 (I) by inserting ‘‘or spending re- 8 duction’’ after ‘‘final sequestration’’; 9 (II) by inserting ‘‘or spending re- 10 duction’’ before ‘‘is required’’; and 11 (III) by inserting ‘‘or spending 12 reductions, as the case may be,’’ after 13 ‘‘sequestrations’’; 14 (2) in section 257(a) (2 U.S.C. 907(a)), by in- 15 serting ‘‘total spending,’’ after ‘‘outlays,’’; and 16 (3) in section 258C(a)(1) (2 U.S.C. 17 907d(a)(1))— 18 (A) by inserting ‘‘or spending reduction’’ 19 after ‘‘sequestration’’ each place the term ap- 20 pears; and 21 (B) by striking ‘‘252 or 253’’ and inserting 22 ‘‘251, 252, or 253’’. 23 (d) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 24 section 250(a) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3930.IH H3930 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3930 IH Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900(a)) is amended 1 by striking the item relating to section 251 and inserting 2 the following: 3 ‘‘Sec. 251. Total spending limits.’’. SEC. 3. ALLOCATION FOR EMERGENCIES. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302(a) of the Congres- 5 sional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 633(a)) is amended 6 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 7 ‘‘(6) ALLOCATION TO THE COMMITTEES ON AP- 8 PROPRIATIONS FOR EMERGENCIES.—Of the amounts 9 of new budget authority and outlays allocated to the 10 Committees on Appropriations for the first fiscal 11 year of the concurrent resolution on the budget, 1 12 percent shall be designated as for emergencies and 13 may be used for no other purpose.’’. 14 (b) BUDGET OF THE PRESIDENT.—Section 15 1105(a)(14) of title 31, United States Code, is amended 16 by inserting ‘‘, including an amount for emergency spend- 17 ing not less than 1 percent of all discretionary spending 18 for that year’’ before the period. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3930.IH H3930 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS