As the 113^th Congress comes to a close in a post-election lame duck session, there is an interest in some quarters to finish up their lengthy to-do list. Topping the list is finishing the 12 spending bills to fund government. In fact that should pretty much be the whole list. Whatever didn’t get done in the 22 months since the 113^th was sworn in should be left undone for the 114^th to pick up in January.

The federal government is operating under a temporary continuing resolution, funding agencies at last year’s levels until December 11^th. All effort in the coming days should go into writing spending bills for each of the agencies so they can escape continuing resolution purgatory, and so Congress can exert their power of the purse. If all twelve spending bills aren’t enacted, some agencies will be operating under a continuing resolution for a second consecutive year. That virtually guarantees inefficiencies in government.

The list of items that lawmakers want to complete is long. It includes: long shots like a long-term transportation reauthorization and tax reform; expiring legislation like tax extenders and terrorism risk insurance program; and annual legislation like the defense authorization (enacted more than 50 straight years!). The fact is, time is short and good long-term policy-making doesn’t come out of lame duck sessions, so here’s a way forward to end the year.

Pass the NDAA If the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are able to hammer out a full fiscal year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, then that could possibly move. There are House and Senate versions; it’s a pretty well understood piece of legislation and will only be effective through the end of the fiscal year.

Let the tax extenders expire. A whole hodge-podge of tax provisions have expired or will expire at the end of the year. The tax extenders package includes a litany of targeted provisions dealing with NASCAR track owners, manufacturers of electric motorcycles, research and development (R&D) tax credits, and rum excise taxes just to name a few. Some lawmakers are pushing to make some provisions permanent like the R&D tax credit. Certainly nothing should be made permanent at this time. And many of these provisions shouldn’t be extended. Possibly all of them. And there needs to be offsets, or we will simply be adding more to the deficit and debt. Simply extending these provisions, furthermore, increases complexity in the tax code at a time when lawmakers of both parties are calling for comprehensive tax reform to eliminate many of the same special interest tax preferences.

No long-term extension of the terrorism risk insurance program. Under the terrorism risk insurance program, the federal government provides a free reinsurance (insurance for insurance companies) for policies that cover damages from a terrorist strike. There are provisions for companies to repay the federal government after the fact, but the truth is, insurance companies have been collecting premiums from policyholders for more than a decade while paying nothing to the federal government for the backstop. The program expires at the end of this year. The Senate voted to extend it for another seven. That would be completely irresponsible. The program should be reformed to include a premium, and make the primary insurer retain more risk, which will allow room for private reinsurance companies to step in where Uncle Sam used to be.  A short-term extension with some reforms would be the best bet here.

That should be just about it for Congress this year. No long-term policymaking, no expensive provisions that add to the deficit. In fact, the 113^th Congress should do what it has proved exceedingly adept at … doing just about nothing.