Incapable of producing a grand compromise to rein in our burgeoning debt, Congress has punted that responsibility to a bi-partisan “Super Committee” of twelve lawmakers. $1.5 trillion dollars. That's what they have to find in savings, and they have to do it all before Thanksgiving . A pretty tall order.

But don't fret. At TCS we've been working on this for a while. We were concerned with the deficit before it was cool , and we have packaged together some easy to implement cuts for Congress. So start with these low hanging budgetary fruit.

Most of these changes are common sense outside the confines of the Capitol. Stop sending payments to land owners simply because they own land that used to be farmed – even if in some instances it's not farmed now. Eliminate the tax credit which pays oil companies to blend ethanol with gasoline, something they are already required to do under the Renewable Fuels Standard. Don't gamble taxpayer dollars backing projects Wall Street treated as radioactive even at the height of the mortgage bubble. And there's more, we've found about $900 billion worth to start.

It's really that simple. All the committee members need to do is just pick this up (it's only 14 pages; an easy read for them as they shuttle between fundraising dinners) and they'll be 60% of the way there. Implement these easy ones, and you can spend more time on the difficult but critical ones like reforming entitlement programs.

The most challenging task of the Super Committee is not finding cuts; it's finding the political courage to follow their oath to the Constitution instead of their parochial interests. Sure, they are elected by their constituents, but they serve in the U.S. Congress. And when push comes to shove, they need to work in the interest of all of US.

Yes, some of the items on the list are popular, but we're not running a popularity contest. We're trying to get our country out of the fiscal ditch. Big savings can come from adjusting programs to better meet their purpose. Phasing reforms to the mortgage interest tax deduction – applying it to only loans of less than half a million dollars and making it a tax credit instead of a deduction – can save taxpayers billions and make home-ownership possible for those on the margins without subsidizing the wealthy. Healthcare costs take up 8% of the military's budget and are projected to take up significantly more in the future, yet TRICARE premiums haven't budged in over a decade. Increasing premiums just a bit for working age retirees, who might get health insurance through their private sector jobs, can save billions . And do more with less, for instance instead of spending hundreds of millions more to get a fancy bridge in Stillwater, Minnesota , pocket the difference and build a simpler bridge. We need functional and can't afford fancy.

And this quick list gets us far down the road without even touching the biggest entitlements. Save yourself some time and bickering over the easy stuff, by following our lead. With this freed up time, they can devote more effort to finding common ground on fiscal reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. At the least make some progress before we release our next list, which we're working on now.

For decades Congress has ignored the tough to focus on fluff. But now we’ve reached a dead end. Kick the can down the road anymore, and we’ll plunge down a $14.6 trillion fiscal cliff.

If there was ever a time for some political courage, it is now. And sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is ask for help.

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TCS Quote of the Week

“Our national security apparatus is going to have to operate effectively in a constrained fiscal environment as well…we'll find a way to do our national security mission at those levels.” – Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS) commenting about the anticipated cuts to defense from the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction. ( Wichita Eagle )