An interactive from Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden lets you try your hand at cutting $100 billion from the budget.

Get out your axe! Before last fall's elections, House Republicans promised to cut $100 billion from the budget. Furthermore, they said they would do so without touching entitlements, defense spending, or veterans' services. This portion of the budget, known as "non-security discretionary spending," makes up less than 15 percent of the federal budget. Though it is a relatively small slice of the overall budget, conservatives routinely ignore other kinds federal spending—like defense and tax expenditures—and instead focus their ire on this one part.

But despite their zeal for deficit reduction through draconian spending cuts, House Republicans are finding it difficult to fulfill their promise.