10 things the new GOP Congress should--and can!--do: the reason policy agenda for 2015-2016.

There's something about holding the reins of power that induces amnesia. So it's a safe bet that when the 114th Congress convenes on Capitol Hill in January, Republican pre-election commitments to small government, civil liberties, and bureaucratic reform will quickly yield to the inevitable squabbles of a classic gridlock scenario: a lame-duck Democratic president, a newly empowered (but not veto-proof) GOP majority in the House and Senate, and a grumpy electorate that seems to be voting against politicians instead of for them.

But even with the added distraction of a presidential primary season already wheezing into gear, there are several concrete and long-overdue steps that lawmakers can take to expand the scope of human freedom and prosperity. So in the New Year's spirit of helpfulness, reason is offering the new Congress a 10-point list of passable policies that would help make the country more free, fair, and fun:

1. Restore "fast track" trade promotion authority: Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said after Election Day that his caucus seeks to push more free trade agreements. Happily, in the wake of the more trade-phobic Democratic Party slipping back into minority status, President Barack Obama mouthed similar sentiments. Fast-track trade authority would grant the president power to make trade deals, which Congress can then vote up or down without amendments or filibuster.

   The last such authorization expired when the Democrats took control of the Senate in 2007, leaving the president less able to negotiate reductions in trade barriers, complete the Doha Round of World Trade Organization talks, finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, and move forward with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Reducing global trade barriers is one of the most effective ways to increase prosperity at home and abroad.

2. End blanket NSA surveillance: The USA FREEDOM ACT, which would have ended the National Security Agency's ability to engage in bulk metadata collection under the legal fig leaf of Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, fell just two votes shy of a Senate supermajority in the lame duck session of Congress.

   However, Section 215 expires in June, and surveillance advocates are already panicking about the possibility that their favorite legal theory for blanket surveillance might disappear overnight. Civil libertarians should take the opportunity to either pass a new version of the bill--preferably...