Rep. Andy Biggs and AFP Discuss Balanced Budget Amendment Coming to the House Floor

For the first time, Congress will soon vote on a balanced budget amendment (BBA) to the Constitution to balance over the medium term instead of every year.

Next week, the U.S. House of Representatives is set to take up House Joint Resolution 139, Rep. Andy Biggs’ proposed BBA.

AFP federal government affairs liaison Will Burger and I recently sat down with Rep. Biggs. We discussed the harms of wasteful government spending and excessive debt and how a well-crafted BBA would push Congress to serve the American people better.

The debt burden drives up inflation and interest rates while reducing income growth and risking a damaging debt crisis. A well-crafted balance rule like Rep. Biggs’ BBA proposal and other updates to federal budgeting can reverse the curse of government debt and unleash greater American prosperity.

I testified on balanced budget amendment design and related issues before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government in December 2025 and at the House Budget Committee in late 2024. Balanced budget rules are standard in U.S. states (Figure 1) and among prosperous countries (Figure 2).

The U.S. government is an outlier, so far, but next-generation BBAs substantially improve on the traditional, annual-balance BBAs that Congress has voted on so far. Americans are ready for the government to budget responsibly, and a BBA can help Congress be the national legislature we need and deserve.

Kurt Couchman is a Senior Fiscal Policy Fellow at Americans for Prosperity.