These are the 85 new House members, overwhelmingly Republican, who ran as Washington outsiders who were going to cut the federal government down to size. With their budget proposal including massive spending cuts, they seem sincere. Oddly, though, there is one part of the budget that is getting off easy: the Congressional spending budget.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-keeping-congress-flush,0,41944.story

A new GOP proposal would reduce domestic agencies' spending by 9 percent on average through September, when the current budget year ends.

If that plan becomes law, it could lead to layoffs of tens of thousands of federal employees, big cuts to heating and housing subsidies for the poor, reduced grants to schools and law enforcement agencies, and a major hit to the Internal Revenue Service's budget.

Congress, on the other hand, would get nicked by only 2 percent, or $94 million.

Recent hefty increases to the congressional budget — engineered by Democrats when they held power in the House from 2007-2010 — would remain largely in place under a plan announced Thursday by the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky.

The plan, developed in close consultation with Republican Speaker John Boehner's office, would cut Congress' budget less than any other domestic spending bill, except for the one covering the Department of Homeland Security.

Time for another tea party already? ;-)