After a year of loose ends and a lack of productivity in Congress, members of Congress are turning up for what is known as a lame-duck session to tie the loose ends of 2022 before 2023. Let’s look at the history of lame-duck sessions and what’s going on in Congress right now.

Lame-duck sessions are a session of Congress between Election day and Inauguration Day that historically have been very lame, often with many members of Congress outright skipping attending them. Introduced after the 20th Amendment, which shortened the period between Inauguration Day and Election Day, lame-duck sessions came into vogue around the 1930s. While one of the 20th Amendment’s purposes was to prevent lame-duck sessions, it failed, and lame-duck sessions took on a more productive model. In the past, Congress passed important legislation such as legislation after the Watergate scandal to clean up public image in 1974 and censured Joseph McCarthy in 1954.

But in recent years, these ‘lame-duck’ sessions have still increased in productivity, especially after elections. Recently, Congress passed a long-awaited law to protect same-sex and interracial marriages on the federal level and recommended former President Donald Trump for criminal prosecution for instigating an insurrection.

The recent increase in the productivity of lame-duck sessions could be correlated with divides between Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Especially with the tight midterm elections this year and the filibuster, Democrats could be trying to pass as much legislation as possible while still maintaining their hold of the Senate and House. The productivity of this recent session could also be correlated with the lack of productivity over the past year. Prominent examples of this include the passing of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which took months to pass and had to be significantly downsized to pass among more center Democrats like Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin.

Lame-duck sessions have had a profound effect on the nation’s legislation and final effects before the end of term in January. There is no doubt that this session will be an eventful one to follow an eventful year and open what is hopefully a less chaotic one.