Lawmakers like to lambaste agencies and the federal government for wasteful spending. And, often, they richly deserve it. But in some cases, Congress seems to be like a boxer propping their opponent up on the ropes so they can hit him again. Lawmakers set up a situation that guarantees waste or inefficiency on the one hand only to turn around and smack the agencies around with the other.

So while the Postal Service is trying to figure out ways to stay afloat, lawmakers are restricting their ability to close post offices with low volume and preventing them from reducing service to five days a week. But you can be sure there will be a lot of criticism hurled – some of it deserved – at the waste and inefficiencies of the U.S. Postal Service during the so-called Postal Reform bill debate in the lame duck session after the election.

Amtrak is a perennial recipient of attacks and the money losing passenger train service does underperform, particularly outside the Northeast corridor. And while we agree with House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica (R-FL) that charging $9.50 for a burger that actually costs taxpayers $16.00 is a problem, the bigger problem is that Congress prevents Amtrak from shutting down enormous money-loser lines like the Sunset Limited between Los Angeles and New Orleans and the California Zephyr between Chicago and San Francisco.

Many lawmakers are calling for the Pentagon to actually pass an audit (hasn’t happened yet, their books are in such a shambles that they’re not even auditable!) but others are actively fighting to keep the assembly lines of their favored weapon systems humming. So what if the military has said they don’t need the politically-favored planes or tanks. With budget tightening, another round of base closing through BRAC (Base Closure and Realignment Commission) seems to be in order, unless of course you happen to be a member of Congress.

As we sift through spending bills each year, we see numerous restrictions placed on the federal government through so-called limitations provisions. By their own rules, lawmakers technically can’t adjust policy in annual must-pass spending bills, because it isn’t germane – relevant – to the dollars and cents. However, these legislative riders are designed to stop the executive branch from doing something by denying them funding for the activity. For example, technically an Army Corps of Engineers’ district office could be closed, but the government can’t spend any money to accomplish it (including staff time) so, in effect, they can’t close the office. Another tactic is you make closing a Farm Service Agency office contingent on endless study, ensuring that closing just 125 out of the more than 2200 is an impossible task.

Probably one of the biggest sucker punches for government is the continuing resolution (CR). Congress passes these stop-gap measures to keep government running when lawmakers can’t get their act together and pass the twelve bills that fund everything from congressional operations to the Department of Defense. These temporary bills limit agency spending to the previous year levels and prevent proper planning on hiring, acquisitions, and operational expenditures. They can be as short as a few days or several months.

In two instances in recent memory (FY2007 and FY2011), a succession of CRs were used to temporarily fund government for a whole year. In the 72 months since the start of fiscal year 2007, all or much of government has been operating under a CR for 39 of them. Congress just passed another CR to deal with October 1st start of FY13 while they run home and campaign. When that CR expires March 30, 2013, all or much of government will have operated under a CR for 58% of the time since the start of fiscal year 2007.

That’s no way to run a railroad. And it guarantees that government will be ineffective and wasteful. That doesn’t mean it would be perfect otherwise. Far from it. But it does make it hard to plan and to put in place reforms, restructuring, and programs to make government work.

Lawmakers in glass houses shouldn’t thrown stones. It’s past time for lawmakers to set down their parochial pet rocks, do their job, and help make government more efficient and cost-effective.

TCS Quote of the Week:

“At the end of the day, politicians represent their constituencies but they have this broader and higher mandate of representing the entire country. If the economy of the country goes south, it is not helpful to the country at large. And every politician wants jobs to be created in their constituencies; they want the economy to pick up; and they want growth to accelerate rather than decelerate. I think they need to see the global side of things effecting them … we are all linked in this.”

– Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, referring to Congress' need to develop a responsible long-term plan to address the so-called fiscal cliff. (MarketPlace)