Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday that Republicans on the Appropriations Committee were unanimously endorsing a bipartisan proposal to limit discretionary federal spending.

The proposal offered by Appropriations Committee Republicans is based on an amendment unveiled in May by Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), and — compared to funding levels recommended by President Barack Obama — would require cuts in nondefense discretionary programs of $16 billion in fiscal 2011, $41 billion in fiscal 2012 and $33.1 billion in 2013.

“We’ve increased discretionary spending 17 percent since the president came to office,” McConnell told reporters following the weekly Senate GOP policy lunch. “The American people are saying to us: ‘You’re spending too much, you’re running up too many debts, and we expect you to do something about it.'”

The McCaskill-Sessions amendment received the unanimous support of Senate Republicans and the votes of at least 15 Democrats in a previous floor vote. Appropriations Republicans plan to offer their similar amendment in committee, McConnell said.