Why does the lame duck session take place after the election and not before?

All legislation and voting processes that are going on right now seem very spiteful and not even in the best interests of the country. Why is this even legal? Why cannot elected officials start voting immediately? In this political climate this is leaving a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth...





Or at least why do votes of people who have been voted out count? The only votes that should count in a lame-duck session are those who have retained their seat.|||a) Lame Duck sessions CAN'T take place before the election because there are no lame ducks BEFORE an election. A "lame duck" is someone who lost!





b) The Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution states "The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin."











Well, why can 42 senators representing less than 35% of the population freeze the will of 65% of the country?|||When a person is elected, they remain in that position until the last day of their term. They retain the same duties until then. The reason there is a lame duck session is because we cannot elect somebody and have them in office the next day. The reason is because of the process, we have to have time for recounts and other legal matters to be resolved otherwise we may put a guy in office, where he can vote, on issues that may later be contested, should it turn out he is not the rightful holder of the office. Even now there are still Congressional elections from the last election that are not finished and it is uncertain who has officially won. If we counted only the votes of the ones who have retained their offices then many districts will not have any representation on what could be very important issues and the voice of many citizens would be silenced. Just think, if we were considering declaring war and you were against it, wouldn't you want to be able to voice your opinion with somebody who could be the deciding vote in your favor? That may not happen if your current Congressman would have lost.|||I think that lame duck sessions are ridiculous. Those who got voted out are angry and doing all that they can to harm the country and/or make the other party look bad. I think that elections in November should give them 1 month to move out and the new legislators 1 month to move in. And if they have a session in between, it should be the newly elected who are sitting in the hearings and voting as of the day after the election.



Look at it this way...on election night, if you were not reelected...the American voters FIRED YOU! They did not lay you off, they did not cut your position, they FIRED YOU! GET THE HELL OUT!



Typical (nothing)...those 42 Senators were representing 55-70% of the people in the legislation that they were able to block, but you are DREAMING if you think that 42 republicans blocked anything. NOT ONE TIME did they not have democrats on their side.|||That's why it's called lame duck.