Corrected 7:07 p.m. | The Senate confirmation of Texas lawyer James “Trey” Trainor III to the Federal Election Commission means the beleaguered campaign finance agency now will have a quorum to hold meetings and conduct official business. But even so, don’t expect a whirlwind of enforcement action.
The Senate voted 49-43 Tuesday to put the Republican attorney on the commission, which has been down to just three members since September. The agency, which is designed to have three Democrats and three Republicans, requires four commissioners for a quorum.
With Trainor, the FEC will have an equal number of Republican and Democratic appointees, so it likely will still be deadlocked on major action — as it often had been before an insufficient number of commissioners forced into virtual lockdown. Four votes is the minimum for the commission to take enforcement action, so even with Trainor, the commissioners would need to be unanimous to act.
Routine actions, including the collection and publication of campaign finance disclosures, continued to be performed by staff. But any effort to investigate or punish violations required action by the commission, which could not meet.
“I’m looking forward to having a quorum, that would be a good thing,” said Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat on the commission. “That’s the bare minimum requirement. How functional we will be, that remains to be seen. I’m not going to make any predictions on that.”
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FEC, hamstrung for months, can start meeting again - Roll Call
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