While everywhere else people are tightening their belts, Congress has decided it is going to spend its way out of recession.

Last week Congress passed, and President Obama signed, a bill that funds the Legislative Branch for the upcoming fiscal year, one that will increase Congress's budget by 5.8%, bringing the total to a whopping $4.7 billion.

Not only did Congress increase its spending, it took the opportunity of the government running out of money to ram through passage. With no money left to fund essential government operations until the 2010 appropriations bills all get passed, Congress found itself again needing to pass a "continuing resolution" just to keep the lights on.

What better way to ensure passage of your dubious budget bulging than to combine it with the virtually non-veto-able continuing resolution!

These are some of the toughest times in this country: the U.S. is fighting two wars and unemployment is at a 26-year high, so it would be comforting to know that Congress had a good reason for requesting to spend so much more money.

So what exactly is in the new budget that demanded such urgency? Politico uncovered such gems as:

• $500,000 to implement a new "pilot program" that will give senators the funds to send out postcards to their constituents advertising their town hall meetings... a program that riled even Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who's of a certain age to typically be excited about receiving postcards

• An earmark that will allocate $200,000 to the Durham Museum in Omaha, Neb. to help preserve their 500,000+ photos depicting the history of Omaha. 

• $4 million so senators to hire more consultants to tell them what to do — apparently majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) need nine people each

• $30,000 for receptions for foreign dignitaries (this seems low actually — c'mon, splurge for more than just the fruit-and-cheese plates!) 

• A whopping $84 million to improve House office buildings including replacing the roof at the Rayburn office building and another $50 million to renovate the Cannon office building — wouldn't want those awesome hairdos to get wet!

• Another $15.8 million for the Senate Appropriations Committee, including $950,000 for administrative expenses

• And for good measure, budget increases for all Leadership offices, the biggest being for Senate whips Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Dick Durbin (D-IL)

The bill does save a little face, courtesy of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who pressured Congress to included a stipulation that would force the legislative branch to put its expenses online; currently Congress only publishes its expenditures in print.

Supporters of the bill argue that they are being relatively frugal - that the $4.7 billion is less than the $5 billion President Obama put in his budget - or that last year's budget increased by over ten percent. Supporters also argue that the increase is more realistically a 3.5% increase; emergency spending at the $787 billion economic stimulus bill forced them to drive up the budget.  This is what naysayers call a "budget gimmick."

Congress has stated it wants to lead by example in these trying times, but its leadership style still appears to be one of "do as i say, not as i do."