Lame-Duck Session

Before the Twentieth Amendment, the outgoing Congress met for a regular short session from December until March 4 after every election, so members who had been defeated or retired routinely passed laws for months. Reformers, led by Senator George Norris of Nebraska, argued this was undemocratic, and the amendment, ratified in 1933, moved the start of the new Congress to January 3 and the inauguration to January 20, shortening the gap. Since then, a lame-duck session occurs only when Congress chooses to return after the election.

Lame-duck sessions were uncommon for decades after 1933 but have occurred after nearly every election since the late 1990s, usually to finish appropriations and other must-pass legislation left undone before the campaign. Some have produced landmark actions: the Senate censured Senator Joseph McCarthy in December 1954, the House impeached President Bill Clinton in December 1998, Congress repealed the military's ban on openly gay service members in December 2010, and it passed the Respect for Marriage Act and the Electoral Count Reform Act in December 2022.

Lame-duck sessions raise questions of accountability because members who have been voted out, or who will not face voters again, can cast decisive votes, and a party that is about to lose power may rush to pass its priorities. Supporters say lame-duck sessions let Congress finish essential work and that members are elected for a full two-year term, while critics say major legislation should wait for the newly elected Congress, and some have proposed rules limiting what a lame-duck Congress can consider.