H.R. 9999 (No Budget, No Recess Act, 118th Congress) would bar Members of Congress from taking official travel or recess if they miss their own budget deadlines — a procedural accountability bill targeting Congress's chronic failure to pass spending bills on time.
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What It Does
H.R. 9999 amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to add explicit consequences for missing two existing deadlines: the April 15 deadline for Congress to adopt a concurrent budget resolution, and the August 1 target for the House to pass its regular annual appropriations bills. If those deadlines are missed, the bill would prohibit the use of any official funds for Members' travel, effectively grounding them in Washington. It also mandates two quorum calls per calendar day during any period of non-compliance, requiring Members to physically appear on the floor to be counted. The mechanism is procedural pressure, not criminal penalty — there is no fine or sanction beyond the travel restriction and forced presence requirement.
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The Real Story
The underlying conflict is about leverage: does Congress have any real consequence for failing its core constitutional job — passing a budget? Supporters argue that with no downside to missing deadlines, Members face no political pressure to do hard fiscal work before taking scheduled breaks. Opponents (largely unspoken, since this is hard to oppose publicly) resist any rule that constrains their own scheduling flexibility or that could be used to trap one party in Washington while the other delays procedurally. The bill is framed as accountability legislation but is in practice a power struggle over who bears the cost of gridlock.
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Who Benefits
- Fiscal hawks and budget-reform advocates — Groups like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), which endorsed the concept, gain a legislative vehicle for the principle that deadlines should have teeth.
- Voters frustrated with shutdown cycles — The bill has direct constituent appeal: it's easy to explain that Members can't leave town if they haven't done their jobs.
- Rep. Arrington and budget accountability Republicans — Using budget failure as a political wedge against House leadership (and Senate Democrats) who resist hard deadlines.
- Bipartisan cosponsors seeking reform credibility — Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-IL) signed on, giving the bill rare cross-party cover and signaling that at least some Democrats also see procedural value.
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Who Gets Hurt
- House leadership of both parties — Majority and minority leaders lose flexibility to manage the legislative calendar as a political tool if deadlines carry real travel restrictions.
- Members with family caregiving responsibilities — Mandatory presence requirements during budget failures fall unequally on Members who are primary caregivers; no accommodation language is included.
- Members from geographically distant districts — A Member from Hawaii or Alaska faces a much greater burden from a travel ban than one from Virginia; the bill treats all travel equally without regard to constituent access needs.
- Staffers and House operations — Forcing Congress into mandatory session with no clear agenda or procedural path can freeze committee scheduling, staff planning, and district work periods.
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Red Flags
- Enforcement gap: The bill restricts "official travel" — but Members' personal travel funded privately is untouched. A wealthy lawmaker faces no meaningful constraint.
- Quorum call mechanics as theater: Two required quorum calls per day sound punitive but quorum calls are routinely waived or uncontested; they don't guarantee Members are in Washington or working.
- Procedural bypass risk: The House Rules Committee — which this bill was referred to — has near-unlimited power to waive any House rule. The same leadership that allowed recess without a budget could waive this rule's enforcement.
- Senate not covered: H.R. 9999 is a House bill. Senate recesses are governed separately. A House locked in session could still produce zero action if Senate leadership adjourns independently.
- No penalty for delay tactics: Nothing in the bill prevents a minority party from using procedural tools (motions to adjourn, quorum breaks, holds) to stall floor time and make progress impossible while Members sit in Washington doing nothing productive.
- Died in committee: H.R. 9999 was introduced October 18, 2024 — less than 3 months before the 118th Congress expired in January 2025. It was referred to three committees (House Administration, Budget, Rules) and received no hearing or vote.
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Hidden Riders
- None identified. The bill is narrow and single-purpose. However, its referral to the House Rules Committee is notable — the Rules Committee could theoretically attach the mechanism to a future rules package in a significantly weakened or modified form without a standalone vote on this bill's text.
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Current Status
H.R. 9999 is dead. It was introduced on October 18, 2024, in the final months of the 118th Congress, referred simultaneously to the House Committee on House Administration, the House Committee on the Budget, and the House Committee on Rules — and received no hearing, no markup, and no vote in any of those committees before the 118th Congress expired on January 3, 2025. The bill did not carry over to the 119th Congress; House bills do not automatically transfer between Congresses and must be reintroduced. As of June 2026, no identical successor bill has been identified in the 119th Congress.
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Sources:
- [H.R.9999 - 118th Congress: No Budget, No Recess Act | Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/9999)
- [H.R. 9999 History | Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/9999/history)
- [H.R. 9999 (IH) - GovInfo](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-118hr9999ih)
- [GovTrack: 118th Congress H.R. 9999](https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr9999)
- [Arrington on Introduction of No Budget, No Recess Act | Arrington.house.gov](https://arrington.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=94)
- [Ernst, Lankford, Perdue Introduce "No Budget, No Recess" Act | CRFB](https://www.crfb.org/blogs/ernst-lankford-and-perdue-introduce-no-budget-no-recess-act)
- [House breaks for August recess without passing 2025 federal budget | Spectrum News 1](https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2024/07/29/budget-appropriations-recess-congress)
- [Congress passes stopgap funding bill, then leaves for recess | Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/20/congress-stopgap-funding-government-recess/)
H.R. 9999 (No Budget, No Recess Act, 118th Congress) would bar Members of Congress from taking official travel or recess if they miss their own budget deadlines — a procedural accountability bill targeting Congress's chronic failure to pass spending bills on time.
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Why now
Congress has not passed all its appropriations bills on time in a single budget year since 1996 — nearly three decades of chronic failure. The 118th Congress (2023–2024) passed zero of the 12 required annual spending bills before their fiscal deadlines, relying instead on a series of short-term Continuing Resolutions to avoid government shutdowns. The immediate trigger was July 2024: House Speaker Mike Johnson had explicitly promised lawmakers would not leave for August recess until FY2025 spending bills were done, then allowed them to go home anyway with nothing finished. Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), chairman of the House Budget Committee, introduced H.R. 9999 in October 2024 as a direct response.
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The real story
The underlying conflict is about leverage: does Congress have any real consequence for failing its core constitutional job — passing a budget? Supporters argue that with no downside to missing deadlines, Members face no political pressure to do hard fiscal work before taking scheduled breaks. Opponents (largely unspoken, since this is hard to oppose publicly) resist any rule that constrains their own scheduling flexibility or that could be used to trap one party in Washington while the other delays procedurally. The bill is framed as accountability legislation but is in practice a power struggle over who bears the cost of gridlock.
---
Red flags
▸ Enforcement gap: The bill restricts "official travel" — but Members' personal travel funded privately is untouched. A wealthy lawmaker faces no meaningful constraint.
▸ Quorum call mechanics as theater: Two required quorum calls per day sound punitive but quorum calls are routinely waived or uncontested; they don't guarantee Members are in Washington or working.
▸ Procedural bypass risk: The House Rules Committee — which this bill was referred to — has near-unlimited power to waive any House rule. The same leadership that allowed recess without a budget could waive this rule's enforcement.
▸ Senate not covered: H.R. 9999 is a House bill. Senate recesses are governed separately. A House locked in session could still produce zero action if Senate leadership adjourns independently.
▸ No penalty for delay tactics: Nothing in the bill prevents a minority party from using procedural tools (motions to adjourn, quorum breaks, holds) to stall floor time and make progress impossible while Members sit in Washington doing nothing productive.
▸ Died in committee: H.R. 9999 was introduced October 18, 2024 — less than 3 months before the 118th Congress expired in January 2025. It was referred to three committees (House Administration, Budget, Rules) and received no hearing or vote.
▸ --
Who benefits
• Fiscal hawks and budget-reform advocates — Groups like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), which endorsed the concept, gain a legislative vehicle for the principle that deadlines should have teeth.
• Voters frustrated with shutdown cycles — The bill has direct constituent appeal: it's easy to explain that Members can't leave town if they haven't done their jobs.
• Rep. Arrington and budget accountability Republicans — Using budget failure as a political wedge against House leadership (and Senate Democrats) who resist hard deadlines.
• Bipartisan cosponsors seeking reform credibility — Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-IL) signed on, giving the bill rare cross-party cover and signaling that at least some Democrats also see procedural value.
• --
Who gets hurt
• House leadership of both parties — Majority and minority leaders lose flexibility to manage the legislative calendar as a political tool if deadlines carry real travel restrictions.
• Members with family caregiving responsibilities — Mandatory presence requirements during budget failures fall unequally on Members who are primary caregivers; no accommodation language is included.
• Members from geographically distant districts — A Member from Hawaii or Alaska faces a much greater burden from a travel ban than one from Virginia; the bill treats all travel equally without regard to constituent access needs.
• Staffers and House operations — Forcing Congress into mandatory session with no clear agenda or procedural path can freeze committee scheduling, staff planning, and district work periods.
• --
What it does
H.R. 9999 amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to add explicit consequences for missing two existing deadlines: the April 15 deadline for Congress to adopt a concurrent budget resolution, and the August 1 target for the House to pass its regular annual appropriations bills. If those deadlines are missed, the bill would prohibit the use of any official funds for Members' travel, effectively grounding them in Washington. It also mandates two quorum calls per calendar day during any period of non-compliance, requiring Members to physically appear on the floor to be counted. The mechanism is procedural pressure, not criminal penalty — there is no fine or sanction beyond the travel restriction and forced presence requirement.
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Precedent
Similar legislation has been proposed repeatedly but never enacted at the federal level. Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA), James Lankford (R-OK), and David Perdue (R-GA) introduced a Senate companion called the "No Budget, No Vacation Act" in earlier Congresses, making the same argument with the same zero result. Fourteen U.S. states have enacted "no budget, no pay" laws — withholding legislator salaries during budget impasses — with mixed outcomes: California's 2010 Proposition 25 successfully accelerated budget passage, but critics note that wealthier legislators are unaffected by pay withholds. The federal version targets travel rather than pay, which is arguably weaker.
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Current status
H.R. 9999 is dead. It was introduced on October 18, 2024, in the final months of the 118th Congress, referred simultaneously to the House Committee on House Administration, the House Committee on the Budget, and the House Committee on Rules — and received no hearing, no markup, and no vote in any of those committees before the 118th Congress expired on January 3, 2025. The bill did not carry over to the 119th Congress; House bills do not automatically transfer between Congresses and must be reintroduced. As of June 2026, no identical successor bill has been identified in the 119th Congress.
---
Sources:
- [H.R.9999 - 118th Congress: No Budget, No Recess Act | Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/9999)
- [H.R. 9999 History | Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/9999/history)
- [H.R. 9999 (IH) - GovInfo](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-118hr9999ih)
- [GovTrack: 118th Congress H.R. 9999](https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr9999)
- [Arrington on Introduction of No Budget, No Recess Act | Arrington.house.gov](https://arrington.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=94)
- [Ernst, Lankford, Perdue Introduce "No Budget, No Recess" Act | CRFB](https://www.crfb.org/blogs/ernst-lankford-and-perdue-introduce-no-budget-no-recess-act)
- [House breaks for August recess without passing 2025 federal budget | Spectrum News 1](https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2024/07/29/budget-appropriations-recess-congress)
- [Congress passes stopgap funding bill, then leaves for recess | Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/20/congress-stopgap-funding-government-recess/)
What to watch
Whether a successor bill is introduced in the 119th Congress (2025–2026) is the key signal to watch — if Arrington reintroduces it with leadership support and a committee hearing, it has real legs; if it's quietly dropped, it was messaging. Citizens who support budget accountability can contact their Representatives and ask whether they support mandatory session during budget failures; that framing forces a public position. The April 15 budget resolution deadline in any current Congress is the moment this type of legislation becomes most politically relevant.
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