weaken or undermine a new administration before it has even taken office. And with a long transition period we have seen in the past decade the development of hugely elaborate transition mechanisms. replete with task forces, blueprints, position papers, and transition staffs numbering thousands and costing millions of dollars. The cost of this transition effort now exceeds the $2 million provided by the Congress, and, in our most recent transition, funding was provided through private contributions resulting in questions about the sources and uses of those funds. In summary, the very long transition period is clearly unnecessary and presents an opportunity for either serious problems or simple mischief that our Nation can well do without. LAMEDUCK CONGRESSIONAL SESSION In the Congress, lameduck periods and lameduck sessions are nearly always unproductive, sharply criticized by public and the news media, and may result in actions unrepresentative of the will of the people. In our most recent lameduck congressional session, in 1982, decisions on national policy were being made in a House of Representatives in which 81 of the 435 Members, or 19 percent of the membership, had either not sought reelection or had been defeated. In the Senate, 5 of the 100 Members, or 5 percent, were lameducks. Mr. Chairman, the Library of Congress has prepared a summary of the lameduck sessions of the Congress held since 1933, and I submit that summary to the subcommittee for its consideration. Senator HATCH. Without objection, we will include it in the record. [The following was received for the record:] D Washington, DC. 20540 1624 Congressional Research Service MAIN FILE TYPED REPORT "LAME DUCK" SESSIONS OF CONGRESS FROM 1933 THROUGH 1980 by Richard S. Beth and Richard Sachs Analysts in American National Government Government Division September 24, 1982 INTRODUCTION A "lame duck session" of a Congress is one that takes place after the elections for the succeeding Congress have been held, but before the conclusion of the constitutional term of the expiring Congress. In modern usage, the expression "lame duck" is applied to an office-holder when the time at which he or she will leave office is already definitively set. Members of a Congress who do not seek, or who do not gain, re-election, and who sit in a post-election session, are "lame ducks" in this sense, and give their name to the session as a whole. The Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution provided that terms of Members of Congress begin and end on January 3 of odd-numbered years, and that regular sessions of Congress are to begin on January 3 of each year (unless a different date is set by law). This Amendment was ratified in 1933, and took full effect with the beginning of the 74th Congress in 1935. Prior to this Amendment, the term of a Congress began and ended on March 4 of odd-numbered years, and regular sessions of Congress began in December of each year. As a result, a Congress elected in an even-numbered year would first come into session in December of the next (odd-numbered) year, and would meet for its second regular session in December of the following (even-numbered) year, after the succeeding Congress had already been elected. Before 1933, in other words, the last session of every Congress was a "lame duck" session that lasted no more than four months. This circumstance was one of the considerations prompting the adoption of the Twentieth Amendment. Under current circumstances, any session of Congress held after election day in November of 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 applied popularly not only to a special session called after sine die adjournment of a regular annual session of Congress, but also to any portion of such a regular session held when Congress returns after the election. From the time the Twentieth Amendment took effect through 1980, a Congress met after the election of its successor in nine instances. In each case the post-election session constituted an extension of the regular annual session of Congress, rather than a separate special session following a sine die adjournment. From 1939 through 1954, "lame duck" sessions occured in six of eight Congresses, but thereafter none were held until the beginning of the 1970s. In the earliest cases, Congress continued meeting throughout the campaign and election period, but since then, Congress has usually taken a recess of several weeks between the earlier and "lame duck" portions of the session. In recent years, correspondingly, the post-election portion of the session has been increasingly regarded as a distinct "lame duck session" and as a special occurrence, whereas in earlier years it was more commonly spoken of simply as a portion of an extended regular session. Following are brief descriptions of each of the nine "lame duck" sessions since 1933. These summaries are drawn primarily from accounts in the Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report for the periods in question, and, for instances before that publication's inception in 1945, from the Sunday "News of the Week in Review" of the New York Times. These sources were supplemented, where necessary, by information from the weekly newsmagazines, memoirs, and the Congressional Record. 76TH CONGRESS, 3D SESSION--1940-1941 After adjournment of its first session in 1939, the 76th Congress was called into special session by President Roosevelt to deal with the threat of war in Europe. Thus, the annual session that began on January 3, 1940, was actually the third of the 76th Congress. It, too, was dominated by the international situation. The President requested the largest peacetime defense program to that point in American history, and by the end of the summer, Congress had enacted $13 billion in defense authorizations and appropriations, a draft, income tax revisions, an excess profits tax, and related measures. In June, in July, and again in September, the President offered the view that Congress need not remain in session any longer. Some congressional leaders, however, held that Congress should "stand by" in session, in case of emergency. Congress met regularly through mid-October, then limited itself to two or three meetings per week until January 3, 1941; there was no extended recess for the November 1940 elections. The session thus became the longest to take place to that point. and During the "lame duck" period, little was undertaken; the Record from November 4, 1940, through January 3, 1941, covers fewer than 500 pages, quorums were often hard to raise. The Administration declined to send major new proposals (such as for a defense production board, aid to Britain, new taxes and a rise in the debt limit) to the Hill until the new Congress convened. Work also was impeded because both the House and Senate were meeting in substitute quarters while their chambers underwent urgently needed repairs. Among the more notable actions of the "lame duck" period were the decision to sustain the veto of a measure to limit regulatory agency powers, and the publication of a committee report on sabotage of the defense effort. 77TH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION--1942 The wartime year of 1942 again saw Congress remaining in session continuously through the election, adjourning sine die on December 16. A normal schedule of daily meetings was in general followed throughout the period, except during a brief period near the election, when Congress met every third day. The knowledge that the 78th Congress, to begin in January, would contain a much narrowed Democratic majority undoubtedly affected action in the "lame duck" portion of the 77th Congress. Congress declined to take final action to approve the Third War Powers Bill or the expansion of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, including an agricultural parity rider attached to the latter. Other questions which were left to the next Congress included comprehensive national service legislation, general ceilings on net personal income, a bill to curb the powers of regulatory agencies, and plans for censorship of communications A bill to abolish the poll tax passed the House, but fell with U.S. territories. to a filibuster in the Senate. Congress did pass legislation during the lame duck period to adjust inequities in overtime pay for Government workers, and to provide for the draft of 18- and 19-year olds (although the Congress deferred deciding whether to require them to receive a full year's training before being sent into combat). By mid-December, quorums had become difficult to obtain and leaders of both parties agreed that nothing further could be brought before Congress until January, when the 78th Congress was to convene. 78TH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION--1944 In 1944, another wartime year, Congress recessed its session for the national party conventions and again for the elections. The latter recess began on September 21; Congress returned on November 14 and remained in session until December 19. Accordingly, this year's schedule offers the first instance of an separate and distinct "lame duck session" after the Twentieth Amendment went into effect. Among the salient issues facing the post-election session were the questions of peacetime universal military training, extension of the War Powers Act and of the reciprocal trade system, a scheduled increase in Social Security taxes, and a rivers and harbors appropriation bill. Several congressional reform questions were also actively discussed, including restructuring of the committee system and increased congressional pay. A number of renewals of domestic programs and proposals for post-war reconstruction were also mentioned as possible subjects for action. In the end, several questions were deferred until the following Congress, including universal military training, the Bretton Woods monetary agreements, the Reciprocal Trade Act, and restructuring of the Social Security system. Several other measures could not be brought to final action, including the rivers and harbors bill, a Senate-passed bill for congressional reform, and a pay increase for postal workers. However, a bill delaying the Social Security tax increase was enacted, as was a renewal of the War Powers Act and an increase of the congressional clerk-hire allowance by $3,000, to $9,500. In addition, |
