Every time congressional mandarins meet to hash out money bills, I'm reminded of the refrain from that old Charlie Rich song:

"No one knows what goes on behind closed doors."

Good thing, maybe, for lawmakers doling out special favors. Bad thing for the rest of us.

Officials who meet in secret to hammer out final versions of House and Senate bills must be privy to some powerful alchemy — including making earmarks magically appear and taxpayer gold vanish — more akin to Harry Potter's Hogwarts School than PoliSci 101.

A sprinkle of influence here. A dash of campaign contributions there. Eye of a newt (not Gingrich, of course). Lips of a chicken. And voila! A bridge to nowhere. And look! A rainforest in Iowa. And poof! A $22 billion savings for health insurance companies.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reports that last month, House and Senate negotiators met in private to finalize a deficit-reduction bill. But a Senate provision that would have lowered HMOs' Medicare reimbursement payments by $26 billion mysteriously morphed into a $22 billion savings for insurers.

That's some strange magic.

Interestingly enough, not just the public but House and Senate Democrats were excluded from the dark-of-night meetings. Maybe that's the GOP leadership's idea of small government.

Forget the money for a second. One would think that, in the interest of good government, the opposition party would be invited to weigh in on costly, sweeping policy changes affecting millions of Americans.

Alas, not in a Washington where the tenets of Jack Abramoff hold sway these days, rather than those of John McCain, a longtime opponent of pork.

By now, everyone is familiar with Abramoff's wining, dining and teeing off with congressmen. But that's not the only way spells are cast.

An equally pork-laden route is for lobbyists to arm-twist lawmakers for favors during closed-door sessions. If earmarks or questionable items unexpectedly materialize in the final bill, it's almost impossible to know who's responsible for their miraculous appearance.

Take this latest windfall for health insurance companies. No one's sure, exactly, who pulled that rabbit out of the hat. But The Washington Post reports that, just as GOP House and Senate negotiators met in private to finalize the bill, insurers moved in for the kill.

Insurance lobbyists stormed Capitol Hill armed with talking points on how the taxpayer savings from Medicare reimbursement should be spun as "an unanticipated payment reduction" for insurance companies.

And — ta-da! — $22 billion disappeared.

Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley told the Post he "didn't see a big difference from the Senate position" — which he helped craft — "and the conference position."

Apparently insurance companies did.

There's a reason lawmakers and party leaders cherish closed-door summits: These all-powerful Oz-es can reward friends without having to publicly attach their names to favors.

But in the race to reform, Democrats have proposed an idea with merit: All conference committees should meet in public and put any changes to a vote.

If lawmakers truly want transparency (and that's a big "if"), they'll go one step further: Post all such bills online 24 hours before a final vote. And attach members' names to every project they sponsor. Instead of being stewards of taxpayer money, too many lawmakers are stewards of corporate interests.

It's time Congress pulled back the curtain and threw open the doors. Vital decisions and far-reaching policy changes should be made in the public eye, not by sleight of hand.

Bronwyn Lance Chester is a columnist for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. Reach her at bronwyn.chester@pilotonline.com.