the sessions of congress between the election and the beginning of a new term are called "lame duck" sessions because members of congress who were voted out of office still attend and can still vote. originally the term "lame duck" was a financial term meaning those who could not repay a loan. as used in politics, a representative who lost an election was no longer accountable to the voters. as the framers of the twentieth amendment saw it, lame duck representatives should not be able to vote since voters had already rejected their views. the twentieth amendment only shortened the lame duck period by six weeks. between 1933 and 2012, 18 lame-duck sessions of congress have passed laws.