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10. Congress Works for You Act: Legislative Outline

Model Legislative Outline, not final bill text. It needs drafting by legislative counsel. Version 2.1, revised November 4, 2026.

This package may be cited as the “Congress Works for You Act”.

Purpose

To make Congress read and show its bills, sunset regulations Congress never voted on, balance the budget, and limit terms.

Principal Requirements

Part A. House Resolution amending the Rules of the House

• Every covered measure is read in full on the floor by the Clerk before final passage.
• Every covered measure is posted publicly online for at least 15 days before final passage. If text changes after posting, the changed text must also be posted 15 days before the vote. This replaces the shorter text-availability requirement in rule XXI.
• Emergency clause: the 15-day period may be waived only by a separate recorded vote of three-fourths (75%) of Members voting, for one named measure per vote.
• No special rule from the Rules Committee may waive these requirements.

Part A-2. Senate Resolution amending the Standing Rules of the Senate

• The same reading, posting, and emergency-clause rules, offered for senators to sponsor. Changing Senate rules takes a two-thirds vote to end debate (Senate Rule XXII).

Part B. Bill: regulation sunset

• Every major rule expires 3 years after it takes effect unless Congress enacts it into law.
• Rules in effect on enactment expire on a staggered schedule over 5 years unless enacted.
• Amends chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.).

Part C. House Joint Resolution: balanced budget amendment

• Sec. 1: Total outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed total receipts for that year, unless three-fifths of each House provides by law for a specific excess by a roll-call vote.
• Sec. 2: Congress may waive this article for any year in which a declaration of war is in effect.
• Sec. 3: Receipts include all receipts except borrowing; outlays include all outlays except repayment of debt principal.
• Sec. 4: This article takes effect in the fifth fiscal year after ratification.
• Ratification by three-fourths of the States within 7 years.

Part D. House Joint Resolution: term limits amendment

• Sec. 1: No person shall be elected to the House of Representatives more than three times, or to the Senate more than twice.
• Sec. 2: Service before ratification does not count.
• Ratification by three-fourths of the States within 7 years.

Definitions and Eligibility

• “Covered measure”: a bill or joint resolution, or a conference report or amendment between the Houses, on final passage.
• “Major rule”: as in 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
• “Members voting”: Members recorded as voting yea or nay on the waiver.

Existing Law Affected

• Rules of the House (rule XXI); Standing Rules of the Senate
• Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801–808)

Implementation Timeline

• Part A: on adoption by the House. Part A-2: on adoption by the Senate.
• Part B: on enactment.
• Parts C and D: on ratification (Part C in the fifth fiscal year after).

Responsible Agencies

House and Senate Parliamentarians; Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs; Congressional Budget Office.

Enforcement and Appeals

Parts A and A-2: a point of order on the floor. Part B: the courts and the Congressional Review Act process. Parts C and D: the courts, under the Constitution.

Fiscal Implications

The balanced budget amendment would require spending and revenue to match from its fifth year; together with the tax cuts in Plank 5, that would require large spending reductions or other changes. See the fiscal appendix.

See the fiscal appendix for cited estimates.

Constitutional Questions

Term limits and a binding balanced budget require amendments; see the plank page.

Current doctrine. Each House sets its own rules (Article I, Section 5), so a House rule binds only the House and can be changed by a later majority. In U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (1995), the Court held that neither States nor Congress can add term limits by statute. A binding balanced budget rule cannot be imposed on future Congresses by statute. A sunset written into statute is valid, because keeping a rule takes a new law passed by both Houses and signed (INS v. Chadha, 1983).

Mechanism required. Term limits and the balanced budget: constitutional amendments (two-thirds of each House, then three-fourths of the States). Reading and posting rules: House and Senate resolutions. Sunset: statute.

Legislative Instrument Required

Package: House Resolution, Senate Resolution, bill, and two House Joint Resolutions.

Severability: if any provision, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the rest of the measure and its other applications are not affected.

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