Joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

This joint resolution failed the vote the record describes below. A measure that fails is not revived; the same text has to be introduced again as a new measure.

The record's latest action, on December 14, 2011: Failed of passage in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 47 - 53. Record Vote Number: 229.

A joint resolution travels the same road as a bill: both chambers pass it and the President signs it, and it then has the same force as any other law. The label is largely a matter of custom, often used for narrow or time-limited measures.

One exception matters. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution is not sent to the President at all. It goes to the states, and three quarters of them have to ratify it.

No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.

A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.

ORRIN HATCH (R-UT) introduced it on March 31, 2011, and 47 members have since signed on as cosponsors.

They are 47 Republicans.

Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.