This is my simple solution. There are 435 in the house and 100 in the senate. First no salary for them anymore. Second, they all get 100 million dollars after 4 years if they always come in under the budget every year. President gets 1 billion dollars. If they go over the budget...nobody gets paid. Expenditures must not exceed revenue any of those 4 years. All senators, representatives and presidents can only serve one 4 year term. I bet that would get them all agreeing on what cuts to make and that limit on their terms would make sure that once they got their 100 million, they dont go crazy.
Won't happen, most of Congress are lawyers. This matters because they realize that the electorate can be made to believe anything with the right argument. As many a lawyer has said, " I don't have to prove you are guilty, I just have to convince the jury that you are"