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H.R. 3746: Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023

May 31, 2023 at 9:21 p.m. ET. On Passage of the Bill in the House.

This was a vote to pass H.R. 3746 in the House.

This bill would enact a compromise reached by House Republicans and President Biden to avert an impending fiscal crisis related to the statutory debt limit. In exchange for the continued solvency of the federal government, sought by Democrats, Republicans secured in the bill across-the-board cuts to federal spending, ending Biden's suspension of student loan repayments, adding new work requirements for SNAP and TANF, reinstituting the statutory debt limit after the 2024 elections, and more.

The fiscal crisis came about because of a paradox between three parts of law: federal spending levels set by law have increased (largely due to the Trump Administration's recent COVID relief programs), revenue from enacted tax laws have not kept pace (largely due to tax cuts enacted during the Trump Administration), and the statutory debt limit, a law originally enacted in 1917, limits the cumulative amount that the federal government can borrow to cover the shortfall between spending and revenue. Existing law also prohibits the printing of money to bridge fiscal gaps. Throughout the first half of 2023 the Treasury Department warned Congress that the debt limit would be reached, on May 26 warning that it would be reached as soon as June 5.

The paradox in law is intentional: The debt limit is a manufactured crisis exploited by Republicans to periodically extract policy concessions under the threat of economic crisis.

If the debt limit were reached, the federal government would default on its obligations, meaning it would not have the money to pay all of its existing obligations set in law. Those obligations include salaries of members of the military and other federal employees, Social Security and related programs, grants to state police and schools, interest payments on federal debt to retirement plans and other debt holders, and so on. Economists believe that a default could trigger a global recession.

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Vote Outcome
All Votes R D
Aye 73%
 
 
314
149
 
165
 
No 27%
 
 
117
71
 
46
 
Not Voting
 
 
4
2
 
2
 

Passed. Simple Majority Required. Source: house.gov.

Ideology Vote Chart
Key:
Republican - Aye Democrat - Aye Republican - No Democrat - No

Seat position based on our ideology score.

Cartogram Map

Each hexagon represents one congressional district. Dark shaded hexes are Aye votes.

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Vote Details

Notes: The Speaker’s Vote?
The Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, except when such vote would be decisive.” In practice, this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes and only does so when it is politically useful. When the Speaker declines to vote, he or she is simply omitted from the roll call by the House Clerk. (See House Rules, Rule I(7).)
“Aye” or “Yea”?

“Aye” and “Yea” mean the same thing, and so do “No” and “Nay”. Congress uses different words in different sorts of votes.

The U.S. Constitution says that bills should be decided on by the “yeas and nays” (Article I, Section 7). Congress takes this literally and uses “yea” and “nay” when voting on the final passage of bills.

All Senate votes use these words. But the House of Representatives uses “Aye” and “No” in other sorts of votes.

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Statistically Notable Votes

Statistically notable votes are the votes that are most surprising, or least predictable, given how other members of each voter’s party voted and other factors.

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Study Guide

How well do you understand this vote? Use this study guide to find out.

You can find answers to most of the questions below here on the vote page. For a guide to understanding the bill this vote was about, see here.

What was the procedure for this vote?

  1. What was this vote on?

    2. Not all votes are meant to pass legislation. In the Senate some votes are not about legislation at all, since the Senate must vote to confirm presidential nominations to certain federal positions.

    This vote is related to a bill. However, that doesn’t necessarily tell you what it is about. Congress makes many decisions in the process of passing legislation, such as on the procedures for debating the bill, whether to change the bill before voting on passage, and even whether to vote on passage at all.

    You can learn more about the various motions used in Congress at EveryCRSReport.com. If you aren’t sure what the House was voting on, try seeing if it’s on this list.

  2. What is the next step after this vote?

    3. Take a look at where this bill is in the legislative process. What might come next? Keep in mind what this specific vote was on, and the context of the bill. Will there be amendments? Will the other chamber of Congress vote on it, or let it die?

    For this question it may help to briefly examine the bill itself.

What is your analysis of this vote?

  1. What trends do you see in this vote?

    2. Members of Congress side together for many reasons beside being in the same political party, especially so for less prominent legislation or legislation specific to a certain region. What might have determined how the roll call came out in this case? Does it look like Members of Congress voted based on party, geography, or some other reason?

    One tool that will be helpful in answering this question is the cartogram at the top of the page. A cartogram is a stylized map of the United States that shows each district as an identical hexagon. This view allows you to see the how the representatives from each district voted arranged by their geography and colored by their political party. What trends can you see in the cartogram for this vote?

  2. How did your representative vote?

    3. There is one vote here that should be more important to you than all the others. These are the votes cast by your representative, which is meant to represent you and your community. Do you agree with how your representative voted? Why do you think they voted the way they did?

    If you don’t already know who your Members of Congress are you can find them by entering your address here.

Each vote’s study guide is a little different — we automatically choose which questions to include based on the information we have available about the vote. Study guides are a new feature to GovTrack. You can help us improve them by filling out this survey or by sending your feedback to hello@govtrack.us.