No matter who wins what on November 2nd, taxpayers will be waiting for months to see if they are getting a trick or treat from the next Congress. Regardless of which party controls which chamber, there’s much that Congress can do to help improve their esteem in the eyes of the electorate.

After the Democrats took control of Congress in 2007, they swept in a series of reforms dealing with ethics, transparency, earmarks and spending. But after four years, it’s clear that more can and should be done to modernize the institution and make Congress more transparent and accountable to the American taxpayer.

TCS has drafted a top ten list of these proposals that should be enacted immediately after the 112th Congress is sworn in. These are simple, procedural reforms that could go a long way to rebuilding trust and confidence in Congress. These range from simply enforcing existing rules that bills be available for public scrutiny a few days before voting, to creating a companion to the House Office of Congressional Ethics in the Senate, which would investigate and hold Senators to the highest ethical standards.

Many of these reforms would increase transparency of information about Congressional travel expenses or just make existing information such as Congressional Research Service reports and Executive Branch reports to Congress available for the public.

Of no surprise to regular Wastebasket readers is a pitch for greater earmark reforms that lead toward competitive-, merit- or formula-based spending, and in the mean time limit earmarks being directed to campaign contributors; random audits of earmarks by the Government Accountability Office; and creation of an online, downloadable, searchable real-time database of earmarks.

There are also reforms that could help the budgetary bottom line: from tightening pay-as-you-go accounting rules to ensure that all new spending and tax provisions are offset, to ending budget gimmicks and sleights of hand that work like a car’s side view mirror on spending: the actual costs are bigger than they appear. Congress also needs to take a hard look at all the authorizations that pile up for projects and programs. Many of these lofty promises compete against one another and scrape by with partial funding. This ends up costing us more by spreading funding further and thinner while delaying results.

At the top of our list is Congress just doing their job – passing spending bills before the beginning of the fiscal year. Not one of this year’s twelve bills was completed before lawmakers left town to campaign. It is unclear what will happen now – whether the lame duck gets it done or they kick the budget can down the road to the next Congress, leaving federal agencies in fiscal limbo for nearly half the fiscal year.

Considering the retirements, primary losses and current polling, there are going to be a lot of fresh faces walking around Capitol Hill. These new lawmakers should grab the mantle of reform and demand change upon taking office. Regardless of who is in power, the American people deserve a Congress they can trust.

TCS Quote of the Week:

“The predominant theme of the next year will be deficit reduction.  All signs point to tremendous budget pressures. That means a lot of people could be seeing their particular ox being gored, and that will be where the action is.”

– Mark Ruge, head of the public policy group at K&L Gates, on the political outlook for next year. The Hill