S. 3267: MAKE CENTS Act
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S. 3267: MAKE CENTS Act
116th Congress · introduced 2020-02-11 · Economics and Public Finance · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
federal
Follow this bill, step by step
- Where it came from: introduced 2020-02-11 · official record
- Who proposed it: Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] · what a sponsor is
- What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
- Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
- If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.
Official title
MAKE CENTS Act
Plain summary
Making Americans Know about Excessive spending through Commonsense Efforts to Notice and Target Shenanigans Act or the MAKE CENTS Act This bill modifies the federal budget process to add reporting requirements, limit spending at the end of a fiscal year, and impose penalties on Congress for failing to approve a budget resolution or the annual appropriations bills on a timely basis. Among other changes, the bill requires federal agencies to report annually to Congress regarding federally funded projects that are more than five years behind schedule or have expenditures that are at least $1 billion more than the original cost estimate for the project; requires recipients of federal funding to disclose specified details regarding the cost to the federal government and nongovernmental sources; prohibits an executive agency from spending more in the last 2 months of a fiscal year than the agency's average monthly spending for the previous 10 months; prohibits Members of Congress from being paid in a fiscal year until both chambers approve the budget resolution and pass all of the regular appropriations bills for that fiscal year; and limits congressional recesses, adjournments, and travel if Congress has not completed work on a budget resolution and the annual appropriations bills by certain deadlines.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
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If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.
A “Nay” vote
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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes
Officials and money
Sponsor: Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] · 2 cosponsors
Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.
Cosponsors on this site
Sponsor's campaign money: Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] reported raising $2.0 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.
No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.
Words on this page, explained (5)
- Appropriation
- Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
- Bill
- A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
- CBO cost estimate
- The Congressional Budget Office's estimate of how a federal bill would change government spending and revenue. CBO is nonpartisan.
- Fiscal year
- The 12-month period a government uses for its budget. The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30 and is named for the calendar year in which it ends. Most states use July 1 to June 30.
- Resolution
- A formal statement or decision by a legislative body. Simple resolutions often only express an opinion or set rules for one chamber; they do not become law.
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-116s3267.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/116/s>
Record fed-us-cong116-s3267 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong116 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong116