Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007 (H.R.500) is a bill "to provide that pay for Members of Congress be reduced following any fiscal year in which there is a Federal deficit."

Bill status
The bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) on January 16, 2007. It was referred to the House Administration Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. As of July 2007, it had received 13 co-sponsors.



Bill details
The act's purpose is to give members of Congress a personal financial incentive to prevent the federal government from running budget deficits.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act would cut the pay of members of Congress every year the federal government runs a budget deficit. An exception is made for spending that the Director of the Congressional Budget Office determines is directly related to a military conflict lasting over 30 days or in response to a terrorist attack on the United States.

The bill, if passed, would take effect no earlier than the 2008 fiscal year. If the federal government is determined by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office to have run a deficit in 2008, then the pay of members of Congress would be docked in 2009. Any cost-of-living adjustments they might have received would be nullified, and representatives and senators would take a 5% cut from their 2008 pay rates. If the federal government runs a deficit the following year, in 2009, then members would receive a 10% cut from their 2008 pay rates, and would continue to receive a 10% cut for each succeeding, consecutive year the federal government runs a deficit. If, following one or more years in which Members' pay is reduced under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, there occurs a fiscal year in which there is no deficit, then salaries for Members would be restored to what they were before reductions took place, plus any cost-of-living adjustments they would have received.

Criticism and Commendation
H.R.500 is endorsed by the American Conservative Union and Downsize DC.

External resources

 * THOMAS: H.R.500, Library of Congress.