Lame Duck 2 Arrives Today in Washington D. C. - Dec 8, 2008

Congress returns this week for a second lame duck session. Senate reconvenes at 3 PM today. tomorrow the House is expected to return. Democrats worked over the weekend on proposals for financial assistance to U.S. automakers, though no legislation has been written yet.

As the recount in the Minnesota U.S. Senate race draws to a close, there are a couple stories today discussing the prospects for the Senate to weigh in on any potentially disputed outcome. Roll Call reports, “Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) would not rule out the possibility that they would entertain a protest of the results [showing GOP Sen. Norm Coleman leading], which [Democrat Al] Franken has indicated he might file with the Senate.” When asked about the fallout from Senate Democrats deciding to wade into the Minnesota race, former Senate Parliamentarian Bob Dove, Minnesota politics expert and Carleton College political science professor Steven Schier, lobbyist and former Minnesota GOP congressman Vin Weber, and a senior Republican leadership aide in Politico, all seemed to agree that the likely result would be partisan warfare in the Senate. However, Politico writes, “Republicans are increasingly optimistic that Senate Democrats will shy away from deciding the fate of the still too close-to-call Minnesota Senate race, now that the prospect of a 60-seat, filibuster-resistant majority has been eliminated.”

Indeed, the Politico story notes, last “Tuesday’s Georgia Senate runoff victory by Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss . . . dramatically altered the Democratic risk-to-return ratio. While the Constitution allows the Senate to be the ultimate arbiter of who serves in the chamber, there is far less political incentive to intervene now that a filibuster-resistant majority is no longer at stake.”

This lame duck session is meeting to consider an assistance package for struggling U.S. automakers. The AP reported over the weekend that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally gave in to President Bush’s insistence that any help for the auto industry come from already appropriated loans initially required to be used for making more environmentally friendly cars. Previously, environmental groups had vehemently opposed re-purposing the loans. Democrats have spent the last several weeks dealing with this conflict between two major constituencies: the auto unions and environmentalists. Has Pelosi decided that the unions will win this round?

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