Federal (in) action: it's hard to get much done in our nation's Capitol these days.

• Author: Tubbesing, Carl

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If you've been frustrated by the gridlock in our nation's capital over the past 12 months--not to mention the bickering, posturing and partisanship--better restock your cache of Valium, because 2008 will be even worse. That, at least, is the word according to national political pundit Conventional Wisdom. Just tune-in to any of the Sunday morning talk shows if you want to hear Mr. Wisdom pontificate about--whoops, we mean elaborate on--his prognosis. The shorthand version is this: We are now in 2008, with the presidency up for grabs and control of a closely divided Congress also at stake. President George W. Bush, confronting the dilemma faced by all of his lame duck predecessors, is determined to remain relevant and to leave a domestic policy legacy. Congressional Democrats, on the other hand, are equally determined not to give the president any victory or to do anything that might give an advantage to Republicans in the fall elections. Result? Stalemate. See you in 2009.

Fans of representative democracy, the legislative process, compromise and civil discourse find this scenario alarming and depressing. The incurable optimists in our midsts, though, see a touch of brightness in the public policy gloom. They see a particularly daunting set of issues on the country's domestic policy agenda. Some of these issues, such as health care, entitlement reform and immigration, so far have defied long-term, national solutions. In other cases, such as surface transportation and education, laws have been passed and solutions pursued, hut there are questions about whether current approaches are effective, appropriate or workable for the long-run. Why not, say our friends who search for silver linings, use the next 12 months to examine these issues, explore alternative approaches and even move toward consensus in time for a new administration and newly elected Congress?

FIVE BIG ISSUES

These "Big Five" of particularly vexing issues--health care, entitlement reform, surface transportation, education and immigration--have several things in common. Some observers would say that they must be successfully addressed to ensure the long-term viability of the country. At the very least, they are crossroads issues. Taking one path over another conceivably commits the country to an approach for a long period of time, perhaps a generation or longer. By their nature, these Big Five are complex and politically charged. They demand comprehensive, non-incremental, thinking outside the box, starting all over again solutions. They are state-federal issues, meaning the national and state governments share responsibility for them, and the states have a very substantial stake in how they are resolved.

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION: CHANGE IN A TIME OF CRISIS

"Often it takes a crisis to promote real change," said Washington Senator Mary Margaret Haugen speaking last fall during the initial meeting of NCSL's new working group on surface transportation.

There is little disagreement that the country's system of highways and mass transit is approaching crisis. The problem starts with money. The Highway Trust Fund, which supports highway construction and maintenance and mass transit, is running out of it. Spending is up and revenues are not keeping up. Spending has increased partly because the current highway law, the unfortunately acronymed SAFETEA-LU, authorized a lot of it and high energy costs have increased construction...