A lamer duck than usual

Scripps Howard: Congressional lame-duck sessions are notoriously unproductive and this one is no exception.

The Democratic leadership came back after the election with three goals -- a bailout for the auto industry, a second economic stimulus package and an extension of unemployment benefits.

Only the relatively uncontroversial granting of a three-month extension of the benefits passed as Congress was leaving town for Thanksgiving recess. Despite some White House grumbling, President Bush signed the measure as he was leaving for Peru.

The problem with lame duck sessions is that the lawmakers who are retiring or have lost their seats have no incentive to be accommodating while the victorious party has every incentive to wait for the new Congress to be sworn in.

Deadlock

The lawmakers deadlocked on an auto industry bailout, with Democrats generally wanting the money to come from one source; the Republicans generally from another, and neither of them happy about what seemed like a clear plan for a turnaround by the Big Three.

Congress is coming back after the Thanksgiving weekend -- sort of a lame-lame duck session -- and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told the Big Three to come back with detailed plans for how they’d use a bailout. Basically, she said show us the plan, we’ll show you the money.

The economic stimulus package will have to wait for the new Congress.

That’s not to say nothing changed. There was a generational change but it was due to outside factors like the actuarial tables and the criminal courts.