Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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 committee concerned.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jan 3, 2025
Budget Process Enhancement Act
This bill modifies the federal budget process to withhold the salaries of Members of Congress and cancel the salaries of certain employees of the Office of Management and Budget when certain budget process requirements are not met.
The bill also changes the assumptions that the Congressional Budget Office uses to calculate its baseline for discretionary spending to eliminate certain adjustments for inflation and other factors. (A baseline is a projection of federal spending and receipts during a fiscal year under current law.)
Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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 committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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 committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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 committee concerned.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Bill text & related measures
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Read the proposal in plain language
AI-generated · Source-checked by AI · Oct 29, 2026
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-01-03 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
What it would do
The bill proposes changing the budget baseline—the benchmark for budget projections—to exclude emergency-designated and supplemental funding and prohibit inflation adjustments. It would temporarily hold lawmakers’ pay if their chamber misses a budget-resolution deadline, although its timing language is unclear. It would also deny three senior federal budget officials pay during identified noncompliance with presidential budget-submission requirements.
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excluding resources designated as an emergency requirement and any resources provided in supplemental appropriation laws.
If by April 15, 2025, a House of Congress has not agreed to a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2026 pursuant to section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, during the period described in paragraph (2) the payroll administrator of that House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow account all payments otherwise required to be made during such period for the compensation of Members of Congress who serve in that House of Congress
the period which begins on April 16, 2025, and ends on the earlier of— (A) the day on which the House of Congress agrees to a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2026 pursuant to section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974; or (B) the last day of the One Hundred Eighteenth Congress.
no funds may be appropriated or otherwise be made available from the United States Treasury for the pay of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Deputy Director of the Office, or the Deputy Director for Management of the Office during any period of noncompliance determined by the Inspector General of the Office of Personnel Management under section 202.
Section 101 would amend the baseline rules to exclude resources designated for emergencies and resources supplied through supplemental appropriation laws, which provide additional funding.
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Section 257(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended— (1) in the second sentence of paragraph (1), by striking everything that follows current year, and inserting excluding resources designated as an emergency requirement and any resources provided in supplemental appropriation laws.
Section 101 would also delete four existing paragraphs, renumber another, and add a prohibition on baseline adjustments for inflation or any other factor. The deleted paragraphs are not reproduced in the bundle.
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(2) by striking paragraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5); (3) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (2); and (4) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph: (3) No adjustment for inflation No adjustment shall be made for inflation or for any other factor.
Section 201 would apply separately to each chamber of Congress. If a chamber had not agreed to a fiscal year 2026 budget resolution by April 15, 2025, its payroll administrator would place members’ compensation in escrow—a holding account—and release it only when the specified period ended.
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If by April 15, 2025, a House of Congress has not agreed to a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2026 pursuant to section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, during the period described in paragraph (2) the payroll administrator of that House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow account all payments otherwise required to be made during such period for the compensation of Members of Congress who serve in that House of Congress, and shall release such payments to such Members only upon the expiration of such period.
The proposed holding period would start April 16, 2025, and end when the chamber agreed to the specified budget resolution or on the last day of the 118th Congress, whichever came first. The combination of that start date and the named Congress creates an unresolved timing mismatch in the text.
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the period which begins on April 16, 2025, and ends on the earlier of— (A) the day on which the House of Congress agrees to a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2026 pursuant to section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974; or (B) the last day of the One Hundred Eighteenth Congress.
Normal withholding and forwarding of withheld amounts would continue while congressional pay was held. The bill would require release of all remaining money on the last day of the 118th Congress, stating that this safeguard is intended to avoid violating the Constitution’s Twenty-seventh Amendment restriction on congressional compensation changes.
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The payroll administrator shall provide for the same withholding and remittance with respect to a payment deposited in an escrow account under paragraph (1) that would apply to the payment if the payment were not subject to paragraph (1).
In order to ensure that this section is carried out in a manner that shall not vary the compensation of Senators or Representatives in violation of the twenty-seventh article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the payroll administrator of a House of Congress shall release for payments to Members of that House of Congress any amounts remaining in any escrow account under this section on the last day of the One Hundred Eighteenth Congress.
The congressional-pay rule would include Delegates and the Resident Commissioner. The House’s Chief Administrative Officer and the Secretary of the Senate, or employees they designated, would administer it, with necessary assistance from the Treasury Secretary.
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The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the payroll administrators of the Houses of Congress with such assistance as may be necessary to enable the payroll administrators to carry out this section.
the term payroll administrator of a House of Congress means— (1) in the case of the House of Representatives, the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives, or an employee of the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer who is designated by the Chief Administrative Officer to carry out this section; and (2) in the case of the Senate, the Secretary of the Senate, or an employee of the Office of the Secretary of the Senate who is designated by the Secretary to carry out this section.
Section 202 would require the Office of Personnel Management’s Inspector General to determine annually whether the President and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget complied with the cited presidential budget-submission law. Within three days after the budget was due, the Inspector General would have to make that determination and notify the chairs of both chambers’ Budget and Appropriations Committees in writing.
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Not later than 3 days after the President’s budget is due, the Inspector General of the Office of Personnel Management shall— (1) make an annual determination of whether the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the President are in compliance with section 1105 of title 31, United States Code; and (2) provide a written notification of such determination to the Chairs of the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Chairs of the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
Section 203 would prohibit Treasury funds from paying the Director, Deputy Director, and Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget during any period of noncompliance determined under section 202. The prohibition would apply despite other laws.
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Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds may be appropriated or otherwise be made available from the United States Treasury for the pay of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Deputy Director of the Office, or the Deputy Director for Management of the Office during any period of noncompliance determined by the Inspector General of the Office of Personnel Management under section 202.
Those three officials could not later receive back pay for a period of noncompliance. Their lost pay would therefore not merely be delayed.
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The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Deputy Director of the Office, and the Deputy Director for Management of the Office may not receive pay for any period of noncompliance determined by the Inspector General of the Office of Personnel Management under section 202 at any time after the end of that period.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated September 8, 2026, records introduction in the House on January 3, 2025, and referral that day to the Budget, House Administration, and Oversight and Government Reform Committees.
2025-01-03: Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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 committee concerned.
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-01-03. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated rider was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials, or resolve any formal earmark designation.
Other targeted benefits
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow preferential benefit or special exemption warranting a finding was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
What this analysis cannot establish
The bundle supplies the complete introduced text, not an enacted version. The dated actions snapshot records only introduction and referrals; it does not establish whether the bill later advanced or became law.
Section 201 combines an April 16, 2025, start date with termination and mandatory release on the last day of the 118th Congress. The supplied text does not reconcile these references, so the intended operation of the pay-holding period is uncertain.
The bundle does not reproduce the existing baseline provisions amended or deleted by section 101, the budget-resolution requirements referenced in section 201, or the presidential budget-submission law referenced in section 202. Their full requirements and the complete effects of the amendments cannot be established from this evidence.
Sections 202 and 203 do not specify a separate process for determining when a period of noncompliance ends.
No member earmark requests, disclosures, committee reports, conference materials, or other bill versions are supplied. The riders and benefits review is limited to the introduced text.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Sep 8, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI