En esta noticia
Members of Congress who lost their races Tuesday aren’t packing up yet. They keep their seats, their votes on new laws and their $174,000 annual salaries for about two more months, until the newly elected Congress is sworn in Jan. 3.
Lawmakers are scheduled to return to Washington on Nov. 9, six days after Election Day, for a session expected to last until Christmas with a Thanksgiving break in between. Party control in that stretch doesn’t change, whatever the results mean for next year.
The same rules cover lawmakers who retired instead of running again. Until the clock runs out, every sitting member of the House and Senate can introduce bills, vote on them and confirm nominees, whether or not they’ll be back in January.
Can members of Congress who lost Tuesday still vote and pass laws?
Yes. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution sets the end of each congressional term at noon on Jan. 3 of odd-numbered years. Any time the outgoing Congress meets between the November election and that date is called a lame-duck session.
What sets these sessions apart is who votes: the sitting members of the current Congress, not the winners who will take over the next one. A defeated lawmaker’s vote counts exactly the same as it did before Election Day.
These sessions are now a fixture of every election cycle. Both chambers have reconvened after every election since 2000, according to the Congressional Research Service, and in seven of the eight Congresses before the report, the sessions stretched into the new year.
Major laws have come out of these weeks. The 2022 session produced the Respect for Marriage Act, and the 2018 session passed the First Step Act on federal sentencing. In 1998, the House used its post-election session to impeach President Bill Clinton.
What laws does the lame-duck Congress have to pass in its last 2 months?
The most urgent item is money to keep the government running. Federal funding expires Dec. 11 unless Congress passes the full-year spending bills or another stopgap measure. If lawmakers miss that date, parts of the government would shut down.
Several other bills are competing for the same short window:
- The National Defense Authorization Act, the yearly bill that sets Pentagon programs and spending.
- A farm bill covering federal food, agriculture and rural development programs.
- A renewal of a federal surveillance law that has already lapsed.
A debt-limit increase could also join the list. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said one could come during the lame-duck session. Any such move would target a borrowing limit expected in 2027, not the December funding deadline.
Recent history suggests spending will dominate the calendar. In 10 of the 12 lame-duck sessions held from 2000 through 2022, Congress approved regular spending bills or stopgap funding to keep federal agencies open.
Do members of Congress who lost keep collecting their $174,000 salaries?
Yes, but only until their term ends. Members of Congress are paid only for the terms they were elected to serve, according to the Congressional Research Service. A defeated lawmaker’s paychecks stop when the new Congress takes over Jan. 3.
The $174,000 figure is an annual rate. It works out to $14,500 a month, so the remaining weeks are worth about $29,000 per member. Leaders earn more: the speaker of the House is paid $223,500, while the Senate president pro tempore and the majority and minority leaders of both chambers make $193,400.
That pay continues even if the government shuts down after Dec. 11. Congressional salaries come from a permanent appropriation, not the yearly spending bills, so a funding lapse doesn’t stop them. Members can choose to give part or all of their pay back to the Treasury.
The salary itself hasn’t moved in years. Congress last got a raise in January 2009, a 2.8% increase to $174,000, and has blocked every scheduled raise since. Adjusted for inflation, that pay lost roughly 33% of its value from 2009 through 2025.