The Budget Control Act of 2011

Budget Control Act of 2011

Long title	An Act to provide for budget control.
Enacted by	the 112th United States Congress
Effective	August 2, 2011
Citations
Public law	Pub.L. 112–25
Statutes at Large	125 Stat. 239
Codification
Acts amended	Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 Deficit Reduction Act of 2005
Titles amended	2 U.S.C.: Congress
U.S.C. sections amended	2 U.S.C. ch. 20 § 901
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as "An original bill to make a technical amendment to the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002" (S. 365) by Tom Harkin (D-IA) on February 16, 2011 Committee consideration by Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Passed the Senate on February 17, 2011 (Unanimous consent) Passed the House as the "Budget Control Act of 2011" on August 1, 2011 (269–161) with amendment Senate agreed to House amendment on August 2, 2011 (74–26) Signed into law by President Barack Obama on August 2, 2011

The Budget Control Act of 2011 (Pub.L. 112–25, S. 365, 125 Stat. 240, enacted August 2, 2011) is a federal statute in the United States that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on August 2, 2011. The Act brought conclusion to the United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2011.

The law involves the introduction of several complex mechanisms, such as creation of the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (sometimes called the "super committee"), options for a balanced budget amendment and automatic budget sequestration.

Debt ceiling:

Deficit reduction:

Balanced Budget Amendment:

Other provisions:

The bill was the final chance in a series of proposals to resolve the 2011 United States debt-ceiling crisis, which featured bitter divisions between the parties and also pronounced splits within them. Earlier ideas included the Obama-Boehner $4 trillion "Grand Bargain", the House Republican Cut, Cap and Balance Act, and the McConnell-Reid "Plan B" fallback. All eventually failed to gain enough general political or specific Congressional support to move into law, as the midnight August 2, 2011, deadline for an unprecedented U.S. sovereign default drew nearer and nearer.

The solution came from White House National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, who, on July 12, 2011, proposed a compulsory trigger that would go into effect if another agreement was not made on tax increases and/or budget cuts equal to or greater than the debt ceiling increase by a future date.

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