HJRES 141 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to require the concurrence of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress for the admission of new States into the Union.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to require the concurrence of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress for the admission of new States into the Union.
Summary
This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment that would change the requirement for admitting new states to the Union. Currently, Congress can admit new states by a simple majority vote in both Houses; the amendment would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate to admit a new state. The amendment maintains existing constitutional protections that prevent new states from being formed within the jurisdiction of existing states and require consent from affected state legislatures before states can be created by joining parts of other states. The proposed amendment would need to be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states within seven years of being submitted by Congress to become part of the Constitution.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Barrett, Tom [R-MI-7] (R-MI)
Actions (2)
- Jan 21, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Jan 21, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 21, 2026
Mr. Barrett submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to require the concurrence of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress for the admission of new States into the Union.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:
“Article—
“Section 1. New States may be admitted by the Congress, on the Concurrence of two thirds of both Houses, into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. “Section 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by the Congress.”. <all>
Comments