Conservative Leaders: No ‘Lame Duck’ Session After the Election

A group of 100 conservative leaders have written an open letter to Republicans in Congress, demanding that it not hold a “lame duck” session after the November election.

The letter states:

As Congress approaches the end of their second session, we conservative leaders want to emphasize the message we sent to the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate in April of this year: Congress should not hold a so-called lame duck session after this year’s elections.

Historically, lame duck sessions have been used to enact backroom deals that are neither beneficial to the American people nor representative of their will as expressed in the elections of only a few days or weeks before. Past lame duck sessions have produced, among other actions, massive tax and spending increases, pay raises for members of Congress, and ratifications of treaties that threaten U.S. sovereignty.

At a time when the American people’s trust in their government is near an all-time low, Congress should demonstrate exemplary behavior by completing its work before the November elections so that voters can judge all the legislators on the basis of the votes they have cast. Because legislators who have been defeated in an election or are retiring are no longer accountable to the voters for their votes, any actions taken which required their votes are essentially undemocratic. To that end, Congress should not pass any continuing appropriations bill that expires during the post-election period, necessitating additional action to avoid a government shutdown.

Congress must not provide President Obama with an additional opportunity to enact his agenda of progressive social engineering programs and job-killing economic policies before he leaves office. A lame duck session would be his swan song: He can be expected to leave no arm untwisted, no threat unmade, no quid un-quod, to get his dream-policies enacted, his liberal judges confirmed, and his international agreements approved. And all of it could be done without any concern for what the voters actually want. We think that’s a bad way to run a republic.

The American people want, and should have, good representation by their elected officials. The way to get good representation is by having the opportunity to hold those officials accountable. True accountability means finishing Congress’ work for the year before the November elections and not holding a lame duck session.

Click here to see the list of signatories, which was led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese and Conservative Action Project Chairwoman Becky Norton Dunlop.

A lame duck session is one in which the outgoing Congress convenes after the election. For just-unelected representatives and senators, it can be an opportunity to advance policy proposals that might otherwise be unpopular with their constituents, without consequence.

Regardless of who replaces him, President Obama could use such a session to put pressure on congressional Republicans to advance parts of his agenda.