Fix the FEC quick, says bipartisan group of former lawmakers

With the Federal Election Commission in its fifth month of forced inactivity, an unusually bipartisan group of former members of Congress say enough is enough.

Two former senators and seven former House members — five Republicans and four Democrats — pressed the Senate leadership Thursday to confirm new members of the commission right away, so that it can revive oversight of campaign donations and spending in this year's presidential and congressional campaigns.

The group joins coalitions of good-government groups and campaign finance lawyers who have issued similar appeals in recent weeks. But President Trump and Senate leaders are showing no signs of breaking their impasse and allowing the FEC to get back to work. It has been effectively shut down for lack of a quorum since Labor Day.

Just three seats are occupied, and by law it takes four votes for the commission to conduct even the most routine business. But filling the vacancies with people lacking an assertive approach to campaign finance regulation is not the answer, the nine lawmakers said.

"We strongly encourage you to refuse to confirm any FEC nominee who will not enforce campaign laws according to the Constitution, as Congress intended," their letter to the Senate said. "Confirming new commissioners who are opposed to enforcing the law would only extend the current dysfunction and dismantle the power of Congress."

That even five former members from the GOP were willing to sign on to such a message is unusual, because a bedrock view held by the party these days is that the FEC that regulates best is the one that regulates least.