After the elections, Congress will reconvene for a short session, commonly referred to as a lame duck session. A lame-duck session of Congress in the United States occurs whenever one Congress meets after its successor is elected, but before the successor’s term begins. In other words, those who are retiring or leaving Congress due to being defeated in the elections have one last period of time to debate and vote on legislation. Lame duck sessions usually last less than 4 weeks, but definitely have to be done before the first week in January when the new Congress is sworn in. Typically the lame duck sessions are completed before the Christmas holiday. Some of the issues facing this lame duck session are all of the regular appropriation bills or possibly an omnibus appropriation, extending the continuing resolution to fund the government, authorization for use of force (AUMF) in the Middle East against ISIS (which expires on December 11th), the Defense Authorization Act, Ebola humanitarian actions, overseas contingency operations budget, expiring tax cuts, and election of party officers (majority and minority leaders and whips and such). If the balance of power shifts to the GOP in the elections, Congress during the lame duck session may want to punt on major issues until the start of the 114th Congress.
