Maryland
“That this Body further and alternatively requests that the Congress of the United States call a constitutional convention for the specific and exclusive purpose of proposing such an amendment to the Federal Constitution, to be a new Article XXVII” “requiring in the absence of a national emergency that the total of all Federal appropriations made by the Congress for any fiscal year may not exceed the total of the estimated Federal revenues[.]” – Maryland SJR 4 (1975)
Representative Application
For each of the 40 States, one representative application has been highlighted. An explanation is provided as to why this application should be aggregated toward the total calling for a convention for proposing amendments. Additional applications from the State, if any, are also included.
Maryland SJR 4 (1975) is among three states that include specifically worded amendment language but also say that the amendment should read “substantially” as their example shows, not “exactly” showing that the specific text is not intended to be a strict restriction, but counted together with other applications that articulate the same problem, as confirmed by a Congressional Report and the Congressional Research Service. These three all articulate the problem of fiscal responsibility with a sentence nearly identical to “The total of all Federal appropriations made by the Congress for any fiscal year may not exceed the total of the estimated Federal revenues for that fiscal year” followed by some method of making an exception, such as for national emergencies.
SJR 4 (1975)
A Senate Joint Resolution concerning Budget of the United States
FOR the purpose of requesting appropriate action by the Congress, on its own action by consent of two-thirds of both Houses or on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, to propose an amendment to the Federal Constitution to require that the total of all Federal appropriations may not exceed the total of all estimated Federal revenues in any fiscal year, with certain exceptions.
WHEREAS, With each passing year this Nation becomes more deeply in debt as its expenditures grossly and repeatedly exceed available revenues so that the public debt now exceeds hundreds of billions of dollars.
Attempts to limit spending, including impoundment of funds by the President of the United States, have resulted in strenuous objections that the responsibility for appropriations is the constitutional duty of the Congress.
The annual Federal budget repeatedly demonstrates an unwillingness or inability of both the legislative and executive branches of the Federal to government curtail spending to conform to available revenues.
The unified budget of 304.4 billion dollars for the current fiscal year does not reflect actual spending because of the exclusion of special outlays which are not included in the budget nor subject to the legal public debt limit.
As reported by US News and World Report on February 25, 1974, of these nonbudgetary outlays in the amount of 15.6 billion dollars, the sum of 12.9 billion dollars represents funding of essentially private agencies which provide special service to the federal government.
Knowledgeable planning and fiscal prudence require that the budget reflect all Federal spending and that the budget be in balance.
Believing that fiscal irresponsibility at the Federal level, with the inflation which results from this policy, is the greatest threat which faces our Nation, we firmly believe that constitutional restraint is necessary to bring the fiscal disciplines needed to reverse this trend.
Under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, amendments to the Federal Constitution may be proposed by the Congress whenever two-thirds of both Houses deem it necessary, or on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states the Congress shall call a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing amendments; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That this Body proposes to the Congress of the United States that procedures be instituted in the Congress to add a new Article XXVII to the Constitution of the United states, and that the General Assembly of Maryland requests the Congress to prepare and submit to the several states an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, requiring in the absence of a national emergency that the total of all Federal appropriations made by the Congress for any fiscal year may not exceed the total of the estimated Federal revenues, excluding any revenues derived from borrowing, for that fiscal year; and be it further
RESOLVED, That this Body farther and alternatively requests that the Congress of the United States call a constitutional convention for the specific and exclusive[1] purpose of proposing such an amendment to the Federal Constitution, to be a new Article XXVII; and be it further
RESOLVED, That this Body also proposes that the legislatures of each of the several states comprising the United States apply to the Congress requiring it to call a constitutional convention for proposing such an amendment to the Federal Constitution, to be a new Article XXVII; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the proposed new Article XXVII (or whatever numeral may then be appropriate) read substantially as follows:
PROPOSED ARTICLE XXVII
“The total of all Federal appropriations made by the Congress for any fiscal year may not exceed the total of the estimated Federal revenues for that fiscal year, excluding any revenues derived from borrowing; and this prohibition extends to all Federal appropriations and all estimated Federal revenues, excluding any revenues derived from borrowing. The President in submitting budgetary requests and the Congress in enacting appropriation bills shall comply with this Article. If the President proclaims a national emergency, suspending the requirement that the total of all Federal appropriations not exceed the total estimated Federal revenues for a fiscal year, excluding any revenues derived from borrowing, and two-thirds of all Members elected to each House of the Congress so determine by Joint Resolution, the total of all Federal appropriations may exceed the total estimated Federal revenues for that fiscal year.”
and, be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution under the Great Seal of the State of Maryland, be sent by the Secretary of State to: Honorable Gerald Ford, President of the united States, Washington, D.C..; Honorable Charles McC. Mathias, Old Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.; Honorable J. Glenn Beall, Jr., Old Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.; Honorable Carl Albert, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.; Honorable Robert E. Bauman, Longworth Building, Washington, D.C.; Honorable Clarence D. Long, Rayburn Building, Washington, D.C.; Honorable Paul S. Sarbanes, Cannon Office Building, Washington, D.C.; Honorable Marjorie S. Holt, Longworth Building, Washington, D.C.; Honorable Gladys Spellman, House Office Building, Washington, D.C.; Honorable Goodloe E. Byron, Longworth Building, Washington, D.C.; Honorable Parren J. Mitchell, Cannon Building, Washington, D.C.; and Honorable Gilbert Gude, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C.; and be it further
RESOLVED, That under the Great Seal of the State of Maryland, the Secretary of State is directed to send copies of this Joint Resolution to the Secretary of State and to the presiding officers of both Houses of the Legislature of each of the other States in the Union, with the request that it be circulated among leaders in the Executive and Legislative branches of the several State governments: and with the further request that each of the other States in the Union join in requiring the Congress of the United States to call a constitutional convention for the purpose of initiating a proposal to amend the Constitution of the United States in substantially the form proposed in this Joint Resolution of the General Assembly of Maryland.
[1] Emphasis original