The Lame Duck Congress

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“The Lame Duck Congress”
The West Wing episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 28
Written by	Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. (story)
Directed by	Jeremy Kagan
Guest stars	Timothy Busfield Emily Procter Eugene Lazarev Mike Starr NiCole Robinson David Kaufman Richard Tanner Tegan West Brian Stepanek Wayne Wilderson
Production no.	226206
Original airdate	November 8, 2000
Season 2 episodes
In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II The Midterms In this White House And It's Surely to Their Credit The Lame Duck Congress The Portland Trip Shibboleth Galileo Noël The Leadership Breakfast The Drop-In Bartlet's Third State of the Union The War at Home Ellie Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail The Stackhouse Filibuster 17 People Bad Moon Rising The Fall's Gonna Kill You 18th and Potomac Two Cathedrals
List of The West Wing episodes

"The Lame Duck Congress" is the 28th episode of The West Wing.

[edit] Plot

As the last days of the lame-duck Congress roll forward, Sam finds out an active opponent of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is going to be on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the staff considers calling for a special session to try and pass the treaty because it has no chance under the new Congress. Toby leads the effort but is caught short when a defeated Democratic Senator makes it clear why he can't support the treaty, even though he was the primary architect of it. Leo and C.J. have to do some fancy diplomatic footwork when the very pro-Western but equally pro-alcoholism Ukranian President shows up at the White House demanding to meet with the President. Sam responds to Leo's new guideline for shorter policy summaries by working with Ainsley Hayes on a plan to prevent small-busines fraud, but she impresses Sam so much he adopts all of her ideas and sends the plan forward to Leo and the President.