Lead the Charge for a Balanced Budget: At more than $19 trillion, the national debt now exceeds our gross domestic product and is completely unsustainable. Congress should be required to spend and borrow following the same logical principles as our families and small businesses: balance our checkbooks.
Lead the charge for a balanced federal budget by requiring Congress to spend and borrow under balanced-budget principles.
Occurrences
Evidence
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Congress.gov lists H.J.Res.2 as a proposed balanced budget constitutional amendment and reports: Latest Action: House - 04/12/2018 ... Failed by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 233 - 184. The CRS summary says it would prohibit total outlays from exceeding total receipts unless three-fifths of each chamber authorized the excess, require a three-fifths vote to increase the public debt limit, and require the President to submit a balanced budget annually.
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The Clerk records Roll Call 138 on H.J.Res.2, 'Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States,' with Vote Type: 2/3 Yea-And-Nay, Status: Failed, yeas 233 and nays 184. The vote table lists 'Johnson (LA) Republican Louisiana LA Yea.'
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The bill text proposed: 'Total outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed total receipts for that fiscal year' unless three-fifths of each House allowed a specific excess, and 'The limit on the debt of the United States held by the public shall not be increased' unless three-fifths of each House approved it.
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The National Archives page says constitutional amendments 1-10 are the Bill of Rights and 'Amendments 11-27 are listed below'; the final listed amendment is Amendment XXVII, ratified May 7, 1992. No balanced budget amendment is listed among ratified amendments.
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CBO projected for 2025: budget deficit $1.9 trillion, outlays $7.0 trillion, revenues $5.2 trillion. It also projected that federal debt held by the public would rise from 100 percent of GDP in 2025 to 118 percent in 2035.
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For the week of August 31, 2026, the House floor schedule listed H.R. 6500, a continuing appropriations bill, H.J. Res. 1 on Supreme Court size, and other measures; it did not list a balanced-budget amendment or binding balanced-budget rule.
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The Clerk recorded Roll Call 95 on H.J. Res. 139, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget. The vote required two-thirds, failed 211-207, and Johnson (LA) voted Yea.
Assessments
Johnson supported and voted for balanced-budget constitutional amendment efforts, including H.J.Res.2 in 2018 and H.J.Res.139 in 2026, and those measures closely matched the promise to require Congress to spend and borrow under balanced-budget principles. But neither cleared the required threshold, no balanced-budget amendment has been ratified, and federal budget outcomes remain unbalanced. Because there was serious legislative effort but no binding balanced-budget requirement was delivered, the promise was not fulfilled.
Johnson supported a concrete balanced-budget amendment that matched the promise: H.J.Res.2 would have required outlays not to exceed receipts absent supermajority approval and restricted debt-limit increases. He voted yes in 2018, showing a serious legislative effort during his House term. But the measure failed to receive the required two-thirds House vote, no balanced-budget constitutional amendment has been ratified, and federal spending and borrowing have not been brought under a binding balanced-budget rule. The promised outcome was therefore not delivered.