President Bush sent the Colombia free trade agreement to Congress in April, under what are called “fast-track” rules. The move was meant to force Congress into an up or down vote on the agreement within 90 days. But instead, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the House voted to void the timetable, with a 224-195 vote. Now it’s unclear if the agreement is not ratified in this Congress that it can be ratified at all.

Stanford Group Company trade analyst Joanne Thornton says the agreement could pass in a lame duck session of Congress. Some lawmakers doubt there will be a lame-duck session, but that’s not unusual either. There is resistance to a lame-duck session, until lawmakers don’t get their work done and come back to finish things off after the election. According to the Congressional Research Service, it has happened 16 times since 1940, most recently in 2006. While a lame-duck session can be used to avoid controversial votes before an election, oftentimes lawmakers punt those issues until after the new President and Congress are seated.