HOW SERIOUS IS CONGRESS ABOUT CUTTING SPENDING?

Washington, D.C. well deserves its reputation as the land of quick fixes and gimmicks. But when the bell sounds each congressional session to a close, frustrated taxpayers find little has been done to contain a federal budget spiraling out of control.

And so two clever congressmen, one Democrat and one Republican, have proposed the A to Z Spending Cuts Plan.

A gimmick? Perhaps. But it's just quirky enough to refocus Congress on a priority it has long avoided -- spending cuts.

The plan would work something like this: Congress would reconvene for a 10-day special session for a top-to-bottom debate on ways to streamline the federal budget. Any spending would be fair game and each issue would have its own vote. A to Z allows any member to propose spending cuts -- not just a handful of powerful committee chairmen.

Open debate on each issue would be limited to no more than one hour, with at least 56 hours in all. Proponents say perhaps as many as 75 different money issues could be debated. That's a lot of time, considering there were only two hours of debate on the semi-automatic gun ban.

Too much of today's budget is exempted from the knife. That's because two-thirds of spending are entitlements, which aren't even part of the appropriations process.

Not so with A to Z.

As the name implies, everything is fair game. It could test the waters for zero-based budgeting, a method routinely used by business to reduce red ink.

The catch is that for pork barrel to be debated, it must be raised by at least one individual. And being the political animals that they are, most congressmen are probably too squeamish to lead the charge. Special interest groups whine and dine, but the outrage of the American people has intensified. People are tired of lame excuses and civil servants that are exempt from their own laws.

So far, the A to Z plan simply can't get free of the heavy-handed Rules Committee. We urge taxpayers to demand their congressmen sign the discharge petition. This petition would force the House leadership to move legislation to the floor. Congressman Bill Emerson is one of about 230 co-sponsors of the bill. He signed the discharge petition last Thursday.

And for those congressmen who flinch at the idea of meaningful budget review -- the taxpayers should send them packing, from A to Z.