Federal Election Commission

THE FEDERAL ELECTION Commission (FEC) is the primary regulator of federal campaigns in the United States. The FEC implements election statutes by approving rules and issuing enforcement orders. The media and members of Congress frequently criticize the commission for failing to aggressively enforce election laws. They do upport campaign finance reform measures. The FEC's statutory requirement, even for partisan balance, complicates efforts to take vigorous enforcement action in politically-charged cases.

Congress created the FEC in 1975 to implement the Federal Election Campaign Act, the major campaign finance reform statute passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Congress charged the FEC with a variety of duties. The FEC processes and issues campaign finance reports from candidates for federal office, and administers the public funding system used in presidential primary and general elections. The commission also enforces campaign finance laws by ensuring compliance with contribution limits. In its enforcement actions, the FEC audits some campaigns and political organizations, investigates complaints, and initiates prosecutions of campaign finance violations. The FEC also undertakes outreach efforts to help campaigns comply with campaign finance statutes.

Given the political stakes of administering election law, Congress established the FEC differently from most other independent regulatory agencies. The commission is comprised of six individuals approved by the normal appointment and confirmation process. However, no more than three commissioners may be of a particular party, and four votes are required to take action. This partisan balance was imposed to prevent the FEC from advantaging one party, but has also frequently resulted in deadlocked votes thwarting policy change. This has often generated frustration among supporters of campaign finance reform measures. Congress also weakened the chair of the FEC relative to other agencies, rotating the position each year and limiting members to only one year during their term.

Although much of the FEC's responsibility relates to enforcement, the commission has enacted a number of important rules interpreting frequently vague campaign finance statutes. Rules under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 were contentious. The FEC received over 150,000 comments in response to [Page 237]a proposed rule on political committee status. Other rules interpreting the act's provisions prohibiting soft money attracted substantial attention. FEC rules have frequently been challenged in court, where the commission has had mixed success. The FEC faces continued uncertainty and challenges to standards defining “electioneering” from advocacy to advance issue positions. Debate also continues over the future of the presidential public funding system, which was abandoned by almost all major candidates in the 2008 campaign. In the wake of the 2002 campaign finance reform, the FEC has significantly increased enforcement efforts. The agency has also been less willing to settle for a fraction of the statutory penalty. This resulted in record collections of fines from candidate committees. The median civil penalty more than quadrupled from 2001–04.

The FEC has frequently been caught between two opposing political forces. Opponents of strict FEC rules often attack the commission for weakening First Amendment speech rights. At the same time, campaign finance supporters criticize the commission as overly beholden to the major political parties at the expense of vigorously enforcing the law. The FEC's future will be determined by Congress, which has considered proposals from campaign finance reform advocates determined to replace the commission with a more aggressive body. Proposals have included granting the FEC's powers to an “election czar” or a smaller body without a partisan balance requirement. Given the political stakes, however, such a major reform proposal will be difficult to pass, absent a major scandal.

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