Will they, or won’t they? When it comes to Congress, that’s the political question on everyone’s lips. They’re referring, of course, to the possibility of significant bipartisan legislation during the House and Senate’s current lame-duck session. Dispirited Democrats and wary Republicans could be poised to simply let the clock run out.

But they could also tackle something small enough to pass, but large enough to matter, and important enough to set the tone for viable bipartisan reforms to come once the new influx of Republican freshmen comes in next year.

Fortunately, just such an issue has elbowed its way into the news – and into the political consciousness of conservatives, liberals and libertarians alike.

Civil asset forfeiture hasn’t made many headlines until this year. But its very obscurity has bred a degree of corruption that badly undermines the integrity of law enforcement – from local police all the way to the FBI.

Here’s how it works. Working together, police and prosecutors confiscate the belongings both of criminals and of people simply accused of crimes. In fact, as the New York Times recently reported, current law even allows the Internal Revenue Service to seize accounts based on the mere suspicion of a crime.

So, it’s no surprise that the current law is rife with abuse. As the Times also reported, incidents are widespread of police using asset forfeiture to acquire a veritable wish list of goodies. Forfeiture is a reliable way for cops to fund their work – so cities support it. At a time when public pension problems have bitten into the kinds of public services that law enforcement provides, it’s even more politically unpalatable to criticize cops who are out there busting bad guys.

So the system has run riot. Asset forfeiture amassed just above $400 million in 2001. In the 2012 fiscal year, that total had risen to well over $4 billion.

Behind those numbers lie real violations of people’s constitutional rights.

Around the country, however, the backlash has begun. The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law organization, has brought a class-action suit to shut down Philadelphia’s notorious forfeiture program.

And, as the Washington Post reports, two Californians are bringing a federal civil-rights suit against two Iowa Highway Patrol officers who seized more than $100,000 in assets on a bogus traffic stop. The cops said the plaintiffs didn’t signal when they changed lanes; they did.

That’s literal highway robbery – committed by the very people charged to serve and protect.

At a time when Democrats and Republicans agree that criminal justice reform could happen in Washington, it’s more than appropriate to take the first step toward more comprehensive legislation with a bipartisan bill reforming asset forfeiture law.