What I've always kinda thought is that each congress person gets a large amount of budget to spend on staff. ~order of 10 million per congressman.
This would allow for the establishment of in house knowledge groups/ staffers, particularly with regards to policy, rather than having to rely on lobbiests. It would also reduce the churn from congressional staffer to industry lobbyist.
Or at least that's my thought. The us gov spends a ridiculous amount of money, spending more in the organization meant to monitor and control that spend. If you even have a half a percentage gain in efficiency would pay for itself.
This is forgetting the ability of congresspeople to be more responsive to constituents.