Back in 1932, Will Rogers famously described the lame duck period in Congress to the New York Times: “It’s like where some fellows worked for you and their work wasn’t satisfactory and you let ’em out, but after you fired ’em, you let ’em stay long enough so they could burn your house down.” Nothing has changed and the American public should be extremely leery of a lame duck following the elections this November.

Congress has a long and storied history of cramming through bad policy during the lame duck period while outgoing lawmakers are still around to vote and before newly-elected lawmakers assume office. These periods are often characterized by arm-twisting and backroom deals.