By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

The House is expected to vote today on a bill that will prevent Democratic leaders, who are expected to lose their majority after the mid-term elections, from using a lame-duck session of Congress to push through controversial legislation before losing power in January.

The Hill is reporting that Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) introduced legislation last Thursday that would prohibit a lame-duck session after learning that Democratic leaders were promising their supporters that they would move their “big ticket” legislation before the new Congress convenes in January.

“When [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-Nev.] and Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi [D-Calif.] began talking about telling their folks not to worry about ‘card check’ [legislation], not to worry about the national energy tax, not to worry about a continued increased spending, that they had a plan to do this in a lame-duck session after the election, we began thinking and talking about what options we had, and this was one of them,” Price told The Hill in an interview on Friday.

Even though Democratic leaders are calling the accusations “nonsense,” Sen. Harry Reid has indeed scheduled the Senate to be in session on Nov. 15 for a lame-duck session. He reportedly suggested at a conference of liberal bloggers last week that Democrats might use the narrow window between Nov. 2 and Jan. 3, 2011 to pass pass major controversial policy reforms, such as immigration reform, that they have not been able to introduce.

The House has not yet released its schedule for a lame-duck session.

Because Price’s measure is considered to be a “privileged resolution,” House Democratic leaders cannot block it from receiving a vote.

A vote to table the resolution, which would effectively kill it, is expected today after members vote on a $26 billion education and Medicare funding bill.

Even though the Senate is in recess this week, the House vote is considered to be a “test” to determine how many members are willing to use a lame-duck session to advance their political aims before leaving office.

“We need to put members of the House on record now, before the election, and demand they commit to opposing a lame duck session,” said Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity.

He is urging concerned citizens to contact their representatives today and tell them to vote “no” on a lame duck session.

Visit http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ for Congressional contact information.

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