Senate Republicans Make Partisan Move to Add A Republican Commissioner to Currently-Defunct FEC, Ignore Democratic Vacancy

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Senate Republicans Make Partisan Move to Add A Republican Commissioner to Currently-Defunct FEC, Ignore Democratic Vacancy

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer

Since last September, the Federal Election Commission has had only three Commissioners. It has therefore been unable to take any oversight and enforcement actions, as four Commissioners are necessary to constitute a quorum, which is required to act.

The agency is supposed to have six Commissioners, with no more than three from one party. President Trump and Senate Majority Leader McConnell have intentionally deactivated the FEC for more than six months by refusing to add the three Commissioners necessary to restore the enforcement agency to full membership.

The failure of President Trump and Senator McConnell to restore the Commission to full six-member strength has left the country without any enforcement of the campaign finance laws during a period when the 2020 presidential campaign has been underway for many months.

Now, instead of making the FEC fully operational with a full complement of Commissioners, Senate Republicans have announced they will consider only one nominee, Republican Trey Trainor, which would give the Commission a quorum.

By taking this approach but leaving two seats empty, President Trump and McConnell are not only keeping the FEC shorthanded but also refusing to fill a Democratic FEC seat, which Trump and McConnell have purposefully kept vacant for 1,100 days.

Trump has been sitting on a Democratic nominee who was proposed to the White House by Senate Democratic Leader Schumer last summer, essentially burying the nomination and keeping the Democratic seat empty.

Senator McConnell has made a career of undermining the FEC and impeding its ability to enforce the campaign finance laws, which he adamantly opposes.

Senator McConnell and President Trump clearly see the FEC as an instrument of the Republican party and not as an agency to enforce the nation’s anticorruption campaign finance laws.

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