The Lame Duck Congress

"The Lame Duck Congress"
The West Wing episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 28
Directed by	Jeremy Kagan
Written by	Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. (story)
Production code	226206
Original air date	November 8, 2000
Guest stars
Timothy Busfield Emily Procter Eugene Lazarev Mike Starr NiCole Robinson David Kaufman Richard Tanner Tegan West Brian Stepanek Wayne Wilderson
Season 2 episodes
October 4, 2000 – May 16, 2001 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.

Plot

As the last days of the lame-duck Congress roll forward, Sam discovers that 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 cannot support the treaty, even though he was the primary architect of it. Leo and C.J. have to do some fancy diplomatic footwork when a very pro-Western but equally pro-alcohol Ukrainian politician 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-business fraud, but she impresses Sam so much he adopts all of her ideas and sends the plan forward to Leo and the President.

Timeline

The outgoing congress is identified as the 106th United States Congress, placing this episode in November 2000, following the midterm election in Bartlet's first term as President.

External links

The West Wing Episode Guide

The West Wing

Episodes Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7

Main Characters	Josiah Bartlet Leo McGarry Josh Lyman Toby Ziegler Sam Seaborn C. J. Cregg Charlie Young Donna Moss Abbey Bartlet Will Bailey Matt Santos Arnold Vinick Mandy Hampton Kate Harper Annabeth Schott

Recurring Characters	Oliver Babish Elizabeth Bartlet Ellie Bartlet Zoey Bartlet Danny Concannon Ed and Larry Debbie Fiderer Percy Fitzwallace Amy Gardner Bruno Gianelli Jeff Haffley Ainsley Hayes John Hoynes Dolores Landingham Joey Lucas Nancy McNally Mallory O'Brien Bob Russell Helen Santos Andrea Wyatt

Related articles	Aaron Sorkin Thomas Schlamme John Wells W. G. Snuffy Walden

The West Wing episodes

Season 1	"Pilot" "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" "A Proportional Response" "Five Votes Down" "The Crackpots and These Women" "Mr. Willis of Ohio" "The State Dinner" "Enemies" "The Short List" "In Excelsis Deo" "Lord John Marbury" "He Shall, from Time to Time..." "Take out the Trash Day" "Take This Sabbath Day" "Celestial Navigation" "20 Hours in L.A." "The White House Pro-Am" "Six Meetings Before Lunch" "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet" "Mandatory Minimums" "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics" "What Kind of Day Has It Been"

Season 2	"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"

Season 3	"Isaac and Ishmael" "Manchester Part I" "Manchester Part II" "Ways and Means" "On the Day Before" "War Crimes" "Gone Quiet" "The Indians in the Lobby" "The Women of Qumar" "Bartlet for America" "H. Con-172" "100,000 Airplanes" "The Two Bartlets" "Night Five" "Hartsfield's Landing" "Dead Irish Writers" "The U.S. Poet Laureate" "Stirred" "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" "The Black Vera Wang" "We Killed Yamamoto" "Posse Comitatus"

Season 4	"20 Hours in America, Part I" "20 Hours in America, Part II" "College Kids" "The Red Mass" "Debate Camp" "Game On" "Election Night" "Process Stories" "Swiss Diplomacy" "Arctic Radar" "Holy Night" "Guns Not Butter" "The Long Goodbye" "Inauguration, Part I" "Inauguration: Over There" "The California 47th" "Red Haven's on Fire" "Privateers" "Angel Maintenance" "Evidence of Things Not Seen" "Life on Mars" "Commencement" "Twenty Five"

Season 5	"7A WF 83429" "The Dogs of War" "Jefferson Lives" "Han" "Constituency of One" "Disaster Relief" "Separation of Powers" "Shutdown" "Abu el Banat" "The Stormy Present" "The Benign Prerogative" "Slow News Day" "The Warfare of Genghis Khan" "An Khe" "Full Disclosure" "Eppur Si Muove" "The Supremes" "Access" "Talking Points" "No Exit" "Gaza" "Memorial Day"

Season 6	"NSF Thurmont" "The Birnam Wood" "Third-Day Story" "Liftoff" "The Hubbert Peak" "The Dover Test" "A Change Is Gonna Come" "In the Room" "Impact Winter" "Faith Based Initiative" "Opposition Research" "365 Days" "King Corn" "The Wake Up Call" "Freedonia" "Drought Conditions" "A Good Day" "La Palabra" "Ninety Miles Away" "In God We Trust" "Things Fall Apart" "2162 Votes"

Season 7	"The Ticket" "The Mommy Problem" "Message of the Week" "Mr. Frost" "Here Today" "The Al Smith Dinner" "The Debate" "Undecideds" "The Wedding" "Running Mates" "Internal Displacement" "Duck and Cover" "The Cold" "Two Weeks Out" "Welcome to Wherever You Are" "Election Day" "Election Day Part II" "Requiem" "Transition" "The Last Hurrah" "Institutional Memory" "Tomorrow"