Lawmakers Forego Lame Duck Session

CormanTurmoil has been avoided…for now.

A Republican controlled Senate and State House were both sworn into office Tuesday, setting the stage for an interesting relationship between a GOP majority in the legislature and the newly elected Democratic governor, Tom Wolf.

Despite hints of a possible lame-duck session from newly chosen Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, the incoming group of new and returning legislators have not scheduled any session days before Wolf’s inauguration. As a result, a lame-duck session will seemingly be avoided.

Governor-Elect Wolf is set to be sworn in on January 20th.

At the top of the priorities list for the new group of lawmakers will be the closing state’s estimated $2 billion budget deficit.

Governor-elect Wolf offered congratulations to the new members of the legislature and noted that he looked forward to working with them on the state’s “great challenges ahead.”

9 Responses

  1. The Commonwealth Foundation will have 13 days of frustration the rest of us had 4 years

  2. Please people if you’re going to get bogged down in semantics at least get it right. A lame duck can refer to a session or an elected official. A lame duck is someone leaving office who can vote or act with impunity without facing the consequences of the voters. In this case the lame duck is referring to Gov. Corbett not the newly sworn in State Legislature. A lame duck session of course is the days after the election and before the new session, when outgoing elected officials can vote without consequence to them. And you may hear Pres. Obama referred to as a lame duck because he cannot run for another term.

  3. Not lame duck – lame duck is 2010 when Rendell and House Ds voted for pension reform after the election!

    Also – somebody should tell the author it isn’t Congress!

  4. The Commonwealth Foundation is crying right now. Looks like it’ll be another four years before they can attempt to pass their “Paycheck Deception” bill.

  5. I am very disappointed by the decision to not hold an interregnum session. You had a chance to get something done, and once again our REPRESENTATIVES refuse to listen to their constituents.

    Disappointed in PA

  6. If you read the last sentence it says (that Wolf congratulated the new members of Congress) should that say new state Legislators?

  7. It’s not a Lame Duck session since the members were newly sworn in yesterday. A Lame Duck session is after the November election but before the new Legislature is seated. Please use the correct words.

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