Lame duck sessions differ from regular legislative sessions in that some members will have lost their reelection bids and others will be on the brink of voluntary retirement.įor many, the mere presence of members who will not be returning is prima facie evidence that lame duck sessions are undesirable.
In this paper, we explain how incentives change for lame duck legislators, briefly review past research on lame ducks, and present our statistical findings that support and add to the existing literature. Past studies have found lame duck legislators to be less likely to indulge most special interests, but others suggest some legislators may be more likely to indulge one particular special interest: their next employers. Our analysis supports the primary findings of the existing literature on lame ducks. Beyond these voting patterns, it is difficult to say whether members vote more or less “responsibly” during lame duck sessions of Congress. In these sessions, however, a new pattern emerges: Senators become less likely to cast bipartisan votes. These patterns persist in very lame duck sessions-those that take place following the loss of majority status within a single house.
There are subtle but statistically significant differences between voting patterns in regular and lame duck sessions, as revealed by analysis of more than 52,000 House and Senate roll call votes.ĭuring a lame duck session, members are slightly less likely to side with their own parties and less likely to vote at all. Lame duck sessions are often criticized by the victorious party in the election, and a common critique is that the lame duck members-undisciplined by electoral constraints-vote irresponsibly. I can't imagine that a Republican majority Congress in a lame duck session after the American people have spoken would want to confirm a nominee opposed by the NRA, the NFIB, and the New York Times says would move the court dramatically to the left, this nomination ought to be made by the next president.A lame duck session of Congress occurs when legislators meet after an election has been held but before the next Congress has taken office. It would be helpful if we could get that done, if you could get that done, i would encourage Congress, particularly over the next few weeks of the lame duck, let’s try to get something done. I would encourage Congress, particularly over the next few weeks of the lame duck, let’s try to get something done. I don’t know why this had to be done on Day One, it makes it much less likely that we ’ll deal with the disability problem until the lame duck session - and that wo n’t provide a good result for American taxpayers. The issue of Putin as a lame duck disappears.