Over-the-counter contraception not on Republican agenda

But with the election in the books, that proposal has been markedly absent from the plans congressional leaders have laid out for the lame-duck session of Congress that begins next week, and for the new Congress to be sworn in in January.

“If they merely support an idea during a campaign but don’t implement it into law, voters will not take their positions seriously in 2016,” said Darrell West, director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution.

Among those to call for over-the-counter sales were Rep. Cory Gardner in Colorado, who won a seat in the Senate last week; North Carolina state House Speaker Thom Tillis, who also won a Senate seat and Virginia Del. Barbara Comstock, who won a high-profile House race in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Frank Wolf.