Yesterday The Hill's Blog Briefing Room posted the story that Representative Lynn Jenkins (R-Kansas), who had introduced a bill last summer to ban lame-duck Congressional sessions except in the case of national emergency, is planning to re-introduce that bill in the new session of Congress. Representative Jenkins told FOX News, "I am just concerned with the amount of activity that we see happening in these lame-duck sessions, when the folks [who were not reelected] are no longer accountable to the people that they represent."
Lame-duck sessions were originally set up to provide for the amount of travel time it took new Congressmen to get to Washington after having been elected. Originally, the term of Congress began in March to allow for travel time and a smooth transition. Needless to say, travel time is no longer an issue--Congressmen show up early and often!
The article points out:
"Critics of legislating during lame-duck sessions argue that lawmakers who are not re-elected don't have the same accountability that members do during normal sessions, and could and often do vote against their constituents' interests. In making their case, they cite the 20th amendment to the Constitution, which establishes the beginning and ending of the terms of elected federal offices and deals with scenarios in which there is no president-elect. It was ratified in 1933."
To me, accountability is the issue. We have become so politicized as a country that there were people in the lame-duck session who were voting for party interests rather than the interests of the people they were supposed to represent. Some of the things that were passed in this lame-duck session were things representatives were unwilling to vote on before the election because they did not want to be held accountable. That goes against every concept of representative government--it is simply wrong.
I hope the Representative Jenkins is successful in getting this bill passed. Accountability is part of what makes a representative republic work--lame-duck sessions are not part of this picture.
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