Final answer:
If Congress failed to keep the deficit below the ceiling, the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act required automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, to reduce the deficit.
Step-by-step explanation:
The answer to the question is that if Congress failed to keep the deficit below the ceiling, then the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act required automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, to reduce the deficit.
The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, also known as the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, was enacted to address the issue of deficit spending. It required that if Congress failed to meet deficit reduction targets, automatic spending cuts would be triggered. These cuts were designed to ensure that the deficit would be brought under control.
Sequestration was a mechanism by which the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act attempted to reduce the deficit. It involved across-the-board cuts to both defense and non-defense spending. The purpose of sequestration was to force Congress to take action and make the necessary budget adjustments to reduce the deficit.