Introduced
March 20, 2026
Mr. Cramer (for himself, Mr. King, Mr. Peters, and Mr. McCormick) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should reduce and maintain the Federal unified budget deficit at or below 3 percent of gross domestic product.
- (1) Congress should adopt a fiscal target to reduce the Federal budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product (in this resolution referred to as “the target”) or less as soon as possible and no later than the end of fiscal year 2030;
- (2) following the achievement of the target, Congress should continue to pursue further deficit reduction with the goal of achieving a balanced Federal budget;
- (3) the President should submit budgets designed to create a path to meet and sustain the target;
- (4) the congressional budget resolution should set allocations consistent with meeting the target on schedule;
- (5) the Committee on the Budget of the Senate should, within 180 days, recommend enforcement options for consideration, which may include points of order and a backstop mechanism for when the target is not projected to be met;
- (6) the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate should, within 180 days, recommend changes to the rules of the Senate to ensure that the target can be met, including ensuring that rules of the Senate for budget enforcement are difficult to waive, and that enforcement of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 ( Public Law 111–139) is difficult to waive;
- (7) the Congressional Budget Office should include statements within its cost estimates for major legislation that demonstrate how the legislation affects consistency toward the target under a current law baseline;
- (8) the Joint Committee on Taxation is encouraged to provide supplemental analysis of whether major legislation advances or impedes progress toward the target; and
- (9) efforts to meet the target should examine changes to address current levels and the growth of discretionary appropriations, direct spending, and revenues and the gap between current revenues and expenditures of the Federal Government that avoid timing shifts, reclassifications, or other budgetary gimmicks.