Congress will begin the process of setting its own budget tomorrow, when a House Appropriations Committee subpanel meets to consider funding for a handful of legislative branch agencies.

The legislative branch spending bill is a tiny part of the overall budget process -- this year's budget was about $4.3 billion. But it is big on symbolism with the bill funding everything from lawmakers' travel to committee budgets.

Over the past two years, appropriators have chopped the budget by 10 percent. Keeping up that trend will no doubt be a goal this time around as well, as Congress continues to look for places to cut back government spending.

Tomorrow's hearing will consider the budgets of the Government Accountability Office, Congressional Budget Office, Government Printing Office and Library of Congress. Neither the committee nor the agencies would release budget summaries before the hearing.

But the proposed budgets usually are considered "wish lists," partly because legislative branch agencies send their requests directly to Congress. Unlike executive branch agencies, they are not subject to a review by the Office of Management and Budget.

The agencies have been under increasing pressure in recent years to cut back on costs even as their workloads increase. At GAO, for example, lawmakers have asked analysts to keep an eye on everything from stimulus dollars to health care changes.

This year, GAO's budget is $35 million less than it was in fiscal 2011 -- a more than 6 percent cut -- prompting the agency to look everywhere for places to cut back. Last year, the agency offered buyouts and early retirements to employees to cut back its workforce in anticipation of a tight budget.

GPO also offered voluntary buyouts last year, resulting in the reduction of about 330 positions. A spokesman said in December that it had taken additional actions to "cut spending on non-essential hiring, travel, contracts, and other unnecessary costs." The agency was forced to work with about $126 million this year, $8.9 million less than last year.

Schedule: The hearing is tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. in HT-2 in the Capitol.