Rand Paul, Mick Mulvaney return office budgets to Treasury

Two Tea Party Republicans are returning hundreds of thousands of dollars from their congressional office budgets to the U.S. Treasury in symbolic gestures intending to underscore that government could afford to spend less.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced Wednesday he was returning $600,000 to the Treasury, while Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) said he was giving back more than $160,000 from his House budget.

"We watch every purchase," Paul said, according to CNN. "We watch what computers we buy, what paper we buy, the ink cartridges. We treat the money like it's our money, or your money, and we look at every expenditure."

Paul's return represents more than a fifth of his office's annual budget, and surpasses the half million dollars he returned to the Treasury last year.

Mulvaney's office said his spending cuts came on top of automatic reductions to congressional budgets in 2011 and 2012.

“At a time when Americans are tightening their budgets, I have made an effort to do the same with my Congressional office budget," Mulvaney said in a statement. "My office has found ways to save money while continuing to provide necessary services to the constituents of the Fifth District. As requested when I returned over $160,000 last year, I ask that Speaker Boehner use this money to pay down the national debt.” 

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