The Federal Elections Commission Is Deadlocked and Needs Reform

At the hearing on H.R.1 before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, opponents of the bill set their sights on the bill’s reforms to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), charging that these changes would allow a dangerously partisan takeover of our nation’s campaign finance regulator. As someone who used to work at the FEC, I could not disagree more.

Right now, the FEC is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans and notoriously dysfunctional. It deadlocks on whether to pursue most significant campaign finance violations — often after sitting on allegations for years without even an investigation.