This book provides a history and background of the lame duck sessions of congress from 1935 till 2010 (74th-111th congresses). A "lame duck" session of Congress is one that takes place when one Congress meets after its successor is elected, but before the current Congress has reached the end of its constitutional term. The significant characteristic of a lame duck session is that its participants are the sitting Members of the existing Congress, not those who will be entitled to sit in the new Congress.