The congressional budget process is a dysfunctional mess. Lawmakers often juggle a series of continuing resolutions and occasional government shutdowns until finally crafting a single omnibus appropriations bill well into the next fiscal year. That 2,000-page, trillion-dollar bill is then quickly passed before lawmakers can read it and before outsiders can expose the gimmicks.

Congress finally acknowledged these problems in February when it created the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform. This bipartisan, bicameral, 16-lawmaker “super committee” has spent most of 2018 identifying budget reforms that can achieve bipartisan support.