In a
legislature, a special session (also extraordinary session) is a period when the body convenes outside of the normal
legislative session. This most frequently occurs in order to complete unfinished tasks for the year (often delayed by conflict between
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...
), such as outlining the
government's
budget
A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...
for the next
fiscal year, biennium, or other period. Special sessions may also be called during an
economic downturn
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
in order to
cut the budget. In other cases, a special session may be convened to address special topics, or emergencies such as
war or
natural disaster
A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econ ...
.
Who calls a special session varies – by vote of the legislature during regular session, by the
executive, or by the legislature's
speaker or
presiding officer. The
United Nations has both
special sessions and
emergency special sessions.
United States
In the
United States of America, Article II, Section 3 of the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
gives the
President of the United States the power to "on extraordinary occasions, convene both
Houses or either of them."
[United States Archives: Transcript of the Constitution](_blank)
/ref>
This power exists for urgent or extraordinary situations that require congressional action when Congress is adjourned. Presidents have exercised this power 46 times to recall only the Senate and 28 times to recall both Chambers of Congress, most recently by Harry Truman in 1948.
The Senate itself differentiates between "extraordinary sessions" called by the Presidential proclamation and "special sessions" that merely indicate a session not normally scheduled.adjourned sine die
Adjournment ''sine die'' (from Latin "without a day") is the conclusion of a meeting by a deliberative assembly, such as a legislature or organizational board, without setting a day to reconvene. The assembly can reconvene, either in its presen ...
and is not simply in recess (in other words Congress may or may not already be in an official session, but in recess, when convened).
Notes
Parliamentary procedure
{{Gov-stub