Lame Duck Sessions of Congress, 74th-107th Congresses (1935-2002)

Publication Date: August 2003

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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Research Area: Government

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Abstract:

A “lame duck” session of Congress occurs whenever one Congress meets after the election of its successor has taken place, but before the succeeding new Congress begins.

This report describes in brief the history of lame duck sessions of Congress since ratification of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution in 1933, which established new terms of office for Members of Congress and created the conditions under which modern lame duck sessions may be held. Before the 20th Amendment, the last regular session of every Congress always convened after its successor was elected.

Under current practice, any session of Congress held after election day in an even-numbered year, but before the following January 3, when the term of the new Congress begins, is a lame duck session. The term is commonly applied not only to a special session that might be called after sine die adjournment of a regular session of Congress, but also to any portion of a regular session held when Congress returns after an election.

The first lame duck session following ratification of the 20th Amendment took place after the 1940 elections. Congress held a total of 14 lame duck sessions from 1940 through 2002. In 1940 and 1942, Congress met throughout the summer and fall, sometimes in intermittent or pro forma sessions, and in 2002, Congress followed a similar schedule in late October and early November. In the intervening years, however, Congress generally took a recess of several weeks until after the November elections. Twice during this period, in 1954 and 1998, only one house reconvened in a post-election session.

Some sessions were not particularly productive, often because of political disputes and the difficulties of reaching legislative decisions in a post-election environment. In 1982 and 2002, for example, Congress returned after the November election in part to complete work on most of the regular appropriations bills. In each case, it did not complete this work and the new Congress had to enact a large continuing resolution to fund government operations for the fiscal year already in progress.

Other lame duck sessions, such as the one held in 1980, have been more productive. On that occasion, Congress approved budget resolution and reconciliation measures, five regular appropriations bills and a continuing resolution, an Alaska lands bill, a “superfund” bill, a measure extending revenue sharing, a revision of military pay and other benefits, and a bill changing the appointment power of the Senate President pro tempore.