The writers address what Congress should do during the lame-duck session.

Point: Aaron Scherb

As this session of Congress winds down, it’s important to note its many achievements. The current Congress passed a bipartisan infrastructure package, bipartisan anti-gun violence reform and a COVID-19 relief package, and made historic investments in climate change and health care while holding the former president accountable by exposing the truth behind the Jan. 6 insurrection.

However, with a potentially obstructionist House of Representatives controlled by many election deniers taking the reins of power in 2023, there is increased urgency to achieve as much as possible during the “lame duck,” the period after the election during which the outgoing Congress sometimes punts key decisions.

The agenda during the current lame duck is likely to be packed, with Congress potentially working up until or through the winter holidays. With the Senate on Tuesday passing a bill to codify marriage equality, the measure now heads back to the House of Representatives, which previously passed a similar version with strong bipartisan support. Other likely or possible items that Congress might consider during the lame duck include:

• The National Defense Authorization Act is one of the few items Congress passes yearly.

• An omnibus spending bill to keep the government funded past Dec. 16

• Additional aid for Ukraine

• Extending specific expiring tax provisions

• A data privacy and/or an an

titrust bill

• Raising the debt ceiling

• Confirming judicial vacancies

• Daca/“dreamers” legislation

• The Jan. 6 select committee’s final report and possible action to hold former president Donald Trump accountable for failing to cooperate with a subpoena.

• Electoral Count Act reform

The last two items the Jan. 6 select committee’s final report and Electoral Count Act reform are critically important for our freedoms and the health of our democracy. The Jan. 6 select committee’s forthcoming report is expected to highlight the former president’s role in fomenting a deadly insurrection and provide recommendations to ensure that we have peaceful transfers of power between administrations.

Electoral Count Act reform is consequential because it would modernize a law passed in 1887. Updating this antiquated law could help ensure peaceful transfers of power and it is hoped to prevent another insurrection and attempted coup.

The Electoral Count Reform Act would accomplish several vital items: It would not only reinforce that the vice president’s role is ceremonial (to prevent the overturning of election results), but it would also raise the threshold for members of Congress to object to a state’s electoral votes. The Electoral Count Reform Act would raise this threshold to at least 20% of the House and the Senate to ensure that a fringe minority couldn’t hijack the process and ignore the will of voters.

Electoral Count Act reform legislation passed in the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote on Sept. 21, and a slightly different version was approved by the Senate Rules Committee in a near unanimous 141 vote on Sept. 27. Given that the effort to reform the Electoral Count Act has strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate, it may be attached to other “must pass” legislation, such as the NDAA or the omnibus spending bill.

As important as Electoral Count Act reform is, it’s no substitute for comprehensive freedom to vote and anti-corruption legislation. After the Senate came within two votes of passing the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act this year, it’ll take a bit longer to pass national voting standards.

Counterpoint: Chris Talgo

Now that the Thanksgiving recess is over, the 117th Congress will reopen for business with just a few weeks before the 118th Congress will be sworn in.

Although the 117th Congress has a lot on its plate, such as a government funding bill that needs to be passed to avert a government shutdown, it would behoove the current Congress to respect the will of the voters (as recently demonstrated in the midterm election), by doing as little as possible before the 118th Congress convenes on Jan. 3.

Historically, this has been the norm. Over the past century, both parties have refrained from passing major legislation during the few weeks after congressional elections, colloquially known as the “lame-duck session.” However, this year’s lame-duck session could buck this historical trend as many Democrats are clamoring to pass substantial bills while they still hold the House of Representatives before the GOP takes over the lower chamber next year.

For instance, as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland recently told his congressional colleagues, “Whether it’s strengthening our economy, improving our immigration system, protecting our national security, or safeguarding democracy around the world, we have important work ahead of us

in December.”

Hoyer added, “We must take full advantage of the coming weeks to deliver results for the people.” So, what exactly is the outgoing Democratic-controlled Congress looking to do over the next few weeks?

For starters, they seek to pass yet another massive omnibus spending bill to keep the government operational before the federal government runs out of money on Dec. 16. While end-of-year megaspending bills have become the norm in recent years, it would be best for Congress to pass a short-term resolution that would keep the government funded through the holidays before the next Congress can attempt to rein in the out-o-control spending that has become standard procedure for far too long.

The current lame-duck Congress is also toying with hiking the debt ceiling (again) because our debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion is about to lapse. As of this writing, the U.S. national debt has ballooned to an unsustainable $31.3 trillion.

Aside from the big fiscal bills, the 117th Congress is also considering passing several controversial bills that would be dead on arrival when the 118th Congress convenes.

This laundry list of legislation includes $40 billion more for Ukraine, $9 billion more for COVID-19, a bill that would enshrine same-sex marriage, a bill to revise the Electoral Count Act, a bill to revive the expanded child tax credit, a bill to resuscitate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and, perhaps most consequentially, a bill that would ban assault weapons. Interestingly, as many midterm exit polls show, these issues are far from the list of priorities that voters want Congress to address in the months and years ahead.

Yet, with their control of the House of Representatives about to expire, it sure seems like congressional Democrats are not interested in heeding the voters’ desires when it comes to their lame-duck agenda.