the Senate confirmed the nomination of Edward Stettinus as Secretary of State and acted on the nominations of a number of his subordinates.

80TH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION--1948

Prior to adjourning the special session of Congress called by President Truman in the summer of 1948, Congress approved a resolution requiring the House and Senate to reconvene on December 31, 1948, unless called back before that date by the congressional leadership. Since the leadership did not exercise that option, Congress was thus required to meet on December 31 to attend to formalities needed to conclude the business of the 80th Congress. This sessioncertainly one of the shortest "lame duck" sessions on record--met for just under an hour and a half, at which time both houses adjourned sine die.

During the brief session, both Houses approved a measure extending for 60 days the life of the (Hoover) Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of Government. The Senate also extended for 30 days the life of the Special

Small Business Committee, and both houses swore in new Members.

81ST CONGRESS, 2D SESSION--1950-1951

With the Korean War at a critical juncture in the fall of 1950, congressional leaders announced in late September that Congress would reconvene in late November and until then would be available for earlier meetings should the President believe it necessary to call an emergency session. The leadership announced that the post-election session would also include consideration of an excess-profits statehood for Alaska and Hawaii, and a new rent control bill.

tax,

As the "lame duck" session convened, General MacArthur warned the Congress that the United Nations faced "an entirely new" war in Korea, and that conflict dominated congressional attention through the session.

Furthermore, President

Truman presented congressional leaders with a list of thirteen proposals, including five he described as of "greatest urgency." The five included the three major measures the leadership had proposed plus supplemental appropriations for defense and atomic energy and aid for Yugoslavia.

Congress stayed in session through the New Year. It approved an extension of rent control and President Truman's $38 million famine relief bill for

Yugoslavia. In the week before the Christmas holidays, it completed work on the $18 billion defense appropriation bill supported by the President, the Administration-requested excess profits tax, and a far-ranging civil defense

program.

Efforts to obtain a vote on statehood for Alaska were abandoned after a week of intermittent Senate debate on a motion to take up the measure failed to produce a vote.

83D CONGRESS, 2D SESSION-1954

Prior to the 1954 congressional elections, the House adjourned sine die, but the Senate reconvened on November 8 for the sole purpose of considering the recommendation of a select committee that Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wisc.) be censured for improprieties committed in the course of his investigations into possible Communist influence in high Government offices. Senator McCarthy's allegations eventually had led to investigations of McCarthy himself, and the Senate had assigned the issue to a select committee chaired by Senator Arthur V. Watkins (R-Utah).

The select committee introduced its censure resolution on November 9. The first count of the two-count resolution was approved on December 1 and final action was completed the following day.

also became Senate issues.

While the Senate was debating the censure resolution, two tangential matters First, Senator McCarthy continued to press for a further investigation of Major Irving Peress, who had relied on the Fifth Amendment in refusing to answer questions before McCarthy's subcommittee. Second, following the Senate censure, Senator McCarthy criticized President Eisenhower at a meeting of the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee. McCarthy read a statement saying that he felt the need to "apologize" to the voters for an "unintentional deception" in 1952 when he campaigned for Eisenhower.

Press reports speculated that the Senate might consider matters other than the McCarthy censure resolution, including a number of pending treaties and nominations; but the Senate took action only on the McCarthy censure

resolution and adjourned finally on December 2.

91ST CONGRESS, 2D SESSION--1970-1971

Congressional leaders reluctantly called a post-election session for the first time in almost twenty years to complete action on a long list of major legislation including electoral reform, the Family Assistance Plan (the Nixon Administration's principal welfare reform proposal), occupational safety and health, equal rights for women, manpower training, and funds for the supersonic transport plane (SST). Seven regular appropriation bills also remained to be

enacted.

Congress stayed in session until January 2, 1971, less than 24 hours before the constitutional deadline of noon on January 3, when the 92d Congress was convened. It kept largely to the agenda the congressional leadership had set before adjournment in October but failed to approve many Administration proposals, including the Family Assistance Plan which, with other controversial measures, had been attached to a Social Security bill in the Senate. The SST received only interim funding. President Nixon strongly criticized what he termed "major failures" of the "lame duck" session.

Congress did complete work on two of the seven regular appropriation bills and a measure dealing with foreign aid and foreign military sales, including a repeal of the Tonkin Gulf resolution. It also passed the Clean Air Amendments Act of 1970 which established specific deadlines for a 90-percent reduction of certain pollutants from new automobiles, and a major housing bill which included a new program of Federal crime insurance and created the Community Development Corporation.

President Nixon vetoed four measures during the "lame duck" session, including a $9.5 billion Federal manpower training and public service employment

bill.

93D CONGRESS, 2D SESSION--1974

Delayed in the consideration of major legislation by the extraordinary events of 1973 and 1974--the Watergate investigations, the resignation of

Richard M. Nixon and the succession of Gerald R. Ford to the Presidency--Congress reconvened in mid-November 1974, in an effort to clear a long list of crucial

items.

Although congressional leaders had indicated that only the most critical bills would be considered--including votes on the approval of Nelson Rockefeller

as Vice-President--President Ford greeted the returning Congress with a ten-page In the end, list of legislation he wanted passed before the session expired. Congress did consider a wide range of issues before it adjourned on December 20, 1974, but its actions were not always to President Ford's liking.

The Rockefeller nomination was approved by mid-December, but Congress handed the President a major setback when it overrode vetoes of both a vocational rehabilitation bill and a measure amending the Freedom of Information Act.

Congress also approved--and the President finally signed--a bill that nullified a prior agreement giving former President Nixon control over the tapes and papers of his Administration.

In other action:

-Congress approved a long-delayed trade reform bill giving the President broad authority to negotiate trade agreements, act on trade barriers and provide import relief to workers, industries and communities;

--Congress established a Federal policy for research and development of

non-nuclear sources of energy; and

-Congress cleared legislation making continuing appropriations for Federal agencies whose regular appropriations had not been enacted.

96TH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION--1980

Some observers contended that postponing final congressional action on a lengthy agenda of major issues until a post-election session would accomplish two goals: first, it would delay potentially difficult pre-election votes on budget matters, and second, it would allow incumbents extra time to campaign. However, the large Republican gains on election day were thought to complicate the prospects for a productive "lame duck" program, especially with such important issues as budget reconciliation, several major appropriation bills and landmark environmental legislation still left for consideration.

In fact, the "lame duck" session (between November 12 and December 16) was productive, as Congress completed action on many of the issues that had been held in abeyance until after the elections:

-a budget resolution and a budget reconciliation measure were approved; -five regular appropriation bills were cleared, although one was subsequently vetoed. A second continuing resolution was approved to continue funding for other parts of the government;

--the Alaska lands bill and a "super fund" bill to help clean up chemical contamination were approved;

--a measure extending general revenue sharing for three years was approved; --Congress cleared a measure that made disposal of low-level nuclear waste

a State responsibility; and

-Congress changed military pay and benefits and gave the President the authority to call 100,000 military reservists to active duty without declaring

a national emergency.

RB;RS: db

OTHER NATIONS

Senator PELL. It is worth noting that most other democratic nations in the world manage a more prompt installation of newly elected governments than does the United States. I recognize, of course, that there are institutional differences in governments that in some cases make a prompt transition easier. Parliamentary governments, for example, are better able to effect a speedy change in government.

Nevertheless, I believe the transition practices of other governments indicate that a speedier installation of governments is both possible and widely practiced. At my request, the Library of Congress compiled a summary of transition practices in democratic governments of the world.

I submit a copy of that summary to the subcommittee.

Senator HATCH. Without objection.

[The following was received for the record:]