As the Federal Election Commission begins a de facto — and avoidable — agency shutdown of undetermined length, Republican and Democratic commissioners alike warned that the agency is in desperate need of support from Congress to do its work.
The Wednesday meeting is likely the FEC’s last for what could be weeks or months due to the departure of Republican Commissioner Allen Dickerson and the failure of President Donald Trump and the Senate to nominate and appoint new commissioners. After Wednesday, the FEC won’t have its required quorum of four commissioners to conduct high-level business.
But even when the FEC has a quorum, commissioners said the agency doesn’t have what it needs.
Commissioners accused lawmakers of chronically underfunding the agency, which has witnessed a steady decline in staff — now below 300 employees despite a spike in election-related workload. Adjusted for inflation, funding levels have generally declined for years. Congress has all but ignored annual, unanimous requests from the FEC’s often fractious commissioners for legislative support and additional resources.
“We’ve had cuts in staffing and staffing issues. It puts a lot of pressure on the staff,” Republican Commissioner Trey Trainor said during the meeting at the agency’s headquarters.
“We do not have the resources we need, we do not have the money we need,” Democratic Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum said after the meeting, bemoaning the shambolic state of the agency’s “horrifically out-of-date” technological systems.
With Dickerson’s departure, the independent, bipartisan FEC is now down to three commissioners. Trump has yet to nominate a replacement for Republican Commissioner Sean Cooksey, who resigned in January. Then in February, Trump removed Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, who had served in holdover status since 2007, over her objections that the decision was illegal. Trump hasn’t nominated anyone to replace her, either, at a time when he’s sought greater control over independent agencies.
Until at least four commissioners are serving, the agency is legally prohibited from fining scofflaws, making new rules, conducting audits, issuing advisory guidance, voting on the outcomes of investigations or even conducting formal meetings.
How long the six-member FEC is hobbled depends on Trump, who must nominate new commissioners, and the Senate, which must confirm them. (The White House did not return requests for comment on its timing.)
Even if Trump nominates one or more commissioners quickly, it’ll likely take the Senate weeks to advance and approve those nominees.
“My sense is that we will regain a quorum,” Lindenbaum said with a long pause, “soon-ish.”
Trainor said he doesn’t “anticipate a prolonged period of time.”
“I have no indication of the timing, but we’ll be ready when we’re back up,” said Democratic Commissioner Shana Broussard, whom the commission voted Wednesday to become FEC chairperson effective July 1 in a tacit acknowledgement that the commission won’t have a quorum until summer.
Dickerson could have stayed on the commission in what’s known as “holdover status” until a replacement was nominated and approved. Dickerson said he is resigning simply because his term had expired. This stands in contrast to the common FEC practice of commissioners sticking around for years after the expiration of their six-year terms. Weintraub, for example, served in “holdover” status for nearly 18 years, until Trump removed her.
The FEC is losing its major powers at a time when Trump has campaign finance matters squarely on his mind.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi — not the FEC — to investigate ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s main fundraising platform.
Dickerson became emotional as he wished his colleagues goodbye. Other commissioners, in turn, shed tears as an aide passed out tissues.
It was a striking scene for a commission that a decade ago made headlines for screaming matches and bitter commissioner clashes, lampooned by Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” as a dysfunctional hot mess.
While commissioners continue to harbor deep philosophical disagreements over election law matters, Dickerson praised his three colleagues for growing together beyond “entrenchment and recrimination” and personal attacks that for years often plagued the commission’s affairs.
The agency’s “quietly successful reforms” of late, including largely clearing a massive enforcement case backlog created by a previous agency shutdown, are proof that the previously acrimonious commissioners can work on a collegial and bipartisan basis.
“We took steps in the direction of good government and regular order,” Dickerson said.
The outpouring of affection surprised even the commissioners. Lindenbaum said she hadn’t anticipated “blubbering and actual tears.”
“Sorry — the last time was my wedding,” Dickerson said.
Added Broussard: “Always feel what you feel, people.”
During its de facto shutdown, the FEC will be able to attend to some basic functions. Most notably, it will be able to accept and publish the thousands of campaign finance disclosure reports submitted by all manner of political entities, from congressional candidate committees to big-money super PACs.
In other words, the public will still be able to see how much money political committees are raising and spending.
But the FEC won’t be able to make important rulings, such as one earlier this month, when it unanimously ruled in favor of NPR by dismissing a complaint by two conservative organizations accusing the public radio organization of being run by the Democratic Party. The FEC similarly dismissed a complaint against The Washington Post in March.
During Trump’s first term, the FEC lost its campaign finance law enforcement powers twice due to commissioner departures.
During 2019 and 2020, the agency twice found itself without a quorum of commissioners. In aggregate, it couldn’t attend to its high-level responsibilities for more than a year.
The FEC also didn’t have enough commissioners to fully function in the lead-up to the 2008 presidential election, while George W. Bush was president.
In its final meeting before agency lights dimmed, the FEC attended to a slate of mostly quotidian matters.
It entertained requests for legal advice: one from a political fundraising website and another from several state-level Libertarian Party committees.
It also debated whether to allow defunct political candidate committees the ability to donate money they impermissibly raised — such as cash raised for a general election by a candidate who lost in a primary — to charity.
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Dave Levinthal is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist.