Sen. Ben Nelson announced Monday that he will push for a 5 percent cut from Congress’ operating budget for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The Nebraska Democrat, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, said he will try to cut that amount from the legislative branch’s roughly $4 billion budget in his subcommittee’s fiscal 2011 spending bill.

“We’re taking a very careful look at it, but there will be cuts,” he told Roll Call.

The exact dollar amount of the reduction is unclear, because half of the fiscal year has already passed. But it likely will not match the nearly $200 million in cuts called for in the House’s legislative branch funding bill.

“I think the number will be comparable, I think the cuts will be different,” Nelson said. “We’re looking at ways to do it so that it doesn’t shut down the Library of Congress for a few months and a few things that the House proposal would do.”