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This session was commonly called the "lame duck session".

Congress usually had two sessions, the second of which was usually held from the December after the election of the next Congress until March. Until 1933, inaugurations occurred on March 4. In regard to the presidency, a president is a lame-duck after a successor has been elected, and during this time the outgoing president and president-elect usually embark on a transition of power. politics, the period between (presidential and congressional) elections in November and the inauguration of officials early in the following year is commonly called the lame duck period. Berryman cartoon are defeated Democrats heading to the White House hoping to secure political appointments from then President Woodrow Wilson. The lame ducks depicted in this Clifford K. In May, some months after the elections but before the new Senate came to power, the old Senate refused to pass new tax laws that had been passed by the House, which served to merely delay the passage of those laws until the new Senate assembled.Ī recent example is that of minor party Family First Senator Steve Fielding who, on losing his seat at the 2010 election, threatened to block supply if the Labor Party was successful in forming a minority government.

A Senate that is destined to lose its majority as a result of such a change is called a lame-duck Senate and often attracts criticism if it blocks Government measures introduced in the House of Representatives.įor example, after the 2004 election, it became clear that the governing Liberal Party/ National Party coalition would gain a majority in the new Senate, which was due to sit the following July. In Australia, regardless of when the election is held, the Senate ( upper house) sits from the 1st of July following the election to the 30th of June three years later, while the newly elected members of the House of Representatives ( lower house) take their seats immediately after an election. could be justly obnoxious to the charge of being a receptacle of ‘lame ducks’ or broken down politicians.” Examples Australia It was transferred to politicians in the 19th century, the first recorded use being in the Congressional Globe (the official record of the United States Congress) of January 14, 1863: “In no event. In the literal sense, it refers to a duck which is unable to keep up with its flock, making it a target for predators. The first known mention of the term in writing was made by Horace Walpole, in a letter of 1761 to Sir Horace Mann: "Do you know what a Bull and a Bear and Lame Duck are?" In 1791 Mary Berry wrote of the Duchess of Devonshire's loss of £50,000 in stocks, "the conversation of the town" that her name was to be "posted up as a lame duck". The phrase lame duck was coined in the 18th century at the London Stock Exchange, to refer to a broker who defaulted on his debts. President Bill Clinton was widely criticized for issuing 140 pardons and other acts of executive clemency on his last day in office, including two former close colleagues, donors, fellow Democratic members and his own half-brother. Such actions date back to the Judiciary Act of 1801 ("Midnight Judges Act"), in which Federalist President John Adams and the outgoing 6th Congress amended the Judiciary Act to create more federal judge seats for Adams to appoint and the Senate to confirm before the Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated and the Democratic-Republican majority 7th Congress convened. presidential administrations and executive orders issued by outgoing presidents. Examples include last-minute midnight regulations issued by executive agencies of outgoing U.S. However, lame ducks are also in the peculiar position of not facing the consequences of their actions in a subsequent election, giving them greater freedom to issue unpopular decisions or appointments. Lame duck officials tend to have less political power, as other elected officials are less inclined to cooperate with them. the abolishment of the office, which must nonetheless be served out until the end of the official's term.a term limit which keeps the official from running for that particular office again.choosing not to seek another term at the expiration of the current term.