• Start out by seeking to restore some order to the budget and appropriations process.Work together to avoid another crisis relating to the debt ceiling – which has been suspended until March 15, 2017. Hold hearings on the presidential budget request that center on the substance of the proposal. Break the more than 20-year history of failing to pass appropriations bills on time. The disagreements between the parties on where our spending priorities lie are real, but no one, especially not taxpayers, is served by continuing the long history of ignoring procedures and timelines put in place to avoid governing by crisis.
• Reform the budget process. One reason Congress is failing at enacting budgets is that the more than 40-year old budget process isn’t working well. Budget chairs in both chambers have put forward serious proposals that have been relatively well received by the minority. Use that as a building block to making a better budget process. Besides the benefit for taxpayers and government, reform is in both parties’ interest. Recent history demonstrates that both parties will be in the majority sometime in the future and the majority doesn’t look good when it fails to enact a budget.
• Approach tax reform with seriousness. Everyone agrees that the tax code is broken, but no one agrees on how to fix it. The way forward? Continue the member-level working groups, hold oversight hearings on specific provisions of the tax code and hold hearings on specific proposals for reform.

• Take action on some low-hanging fruit. Every Congress, the Government Accountability Office issues a report outlining the programs at “High Risk” for waste, fraud and abuse. Some areas are included year after year, including “management of oil and gas resources” and the National Flood Insurance Program. Prioritize these programs for reform and savings.
• Look for opportunities to think outside of the box. We need fresh, new thinking – supported by evidence and willing to be subject to oversight. Whether in the arena of tax reform or national security or entitlement spending, consider new ideas rather than clinging to the partisan divisions that have shaped this election season. One idea is to reform how we pay for national security contingencies. News that the Office of Management and Budget has directed the Pentagon to include war funding in its out-year funding projections is an opening for discussions on how we should be paying for such contingencies.
• Put the public first. Once the election is over, no one wins if Congress and the president keep campaigning. Start serving the public and looking for solutions, not just opportunities to make political points.

I often say that to run an organization called Taxpayers for Common Sense requires a certain level of optimism, and I think the same is true for all of us this election cycle. Let’s ask both members of Congress and the soon-to-be president-elect, whomever it may be, to put aside the rancor of this election and look for ways to solve problems, not fuel cynicism.