Ranking Member Morelle Opening Remarks at Hearing on the Federal Election Commission

Washington, D.C. — House Administration Committee Ranking Member Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) gave the following opening remarks at an oversight hearing on the Federal Election Commission.

“Good morning, and thank you, Chairman Steil, for welcoming us today. 

“And thank you to our commissioners for their presence and their service. 

“The Federal Election Commission is a small agency, but it has been tasked with the critical mission of protecting the health of our democracy. 

“Ahead of this hearing, I asked the FEC to provide our committee with data about its most pressing challenges and opportunities. 

“There is certainly progress worth noting: the Commission again has quorum to act, rulemakings that languished for years have moved forward, and the backlog of enforcement actions has been significantly reduced. I think you all deserve credit for that. 

“Additionally, each year the commission shares with those in this committee and within the Congress, bipartisan legislative recommendations, and many of those high priority reforms are common sense and merit serious consideration. I'm grateful for that as well.

“At the markup of the ACE Act committee Democrats offered several of the proposals that you've asked for in terms of common-sense changes. 

“Unfortunately, were rejected. I'm hopeful today's hearing will help my colleagues see a path forward on some of these bipartisan requests, so I appreciate that.

“In particular, the committee's successful administrative fines program sunsets at the end of this year, and I believe should be extended. 

“I hope you'll agree with me. I would ask the Chairman and colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support that, and I think we should do that as quickly as possible.

“And I want to commend the thorough and diligent work of your staff. I think they are dedicated public servants helping to ensure our elections are transparent and accountable, and they've worked tirelessly to provide exhaustive answers to the dozens of questions that we on this side of the committee have asked over the past year.

 “So I'm grateful for that and your leadership in that regard. The FEC's written testimony highlights many of these same examples of progress and progress for its own sake, however, is not the sole benchmark of success. 

“And I just want to spend a moment or two just talking about this. The committee needs to assess whether the sole mission of the FEC is being fulfilled, and that is protecting the integrity of federal campaign finance process and ensure transparency for the American people on this score.

“The FEC's own statistics are revealing, and I'll get into this a little now and then in our questions, the numbers tell a story of disagreement and deadlock, especially on the most important issues facing the FEC.

“So under current law, the FEC's non-partisan career staff cannot investigate enforcement matters without the affirmative vote of four or more commissioners.

“When commissioners deadlock with a three-to-three vote on an enforcement case, three commissioners are able to effectively block an investigation in its entirety preventing any possibility the FEC will ever hold the alleged wrong doors accountable. So think about this.

“Professional staff makes a recommendation without the ascent of four members of the panel. 

“The investigation can't continue since the 2010 Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, which opened the door to Super PACs dark money and unlimited contributions for elections raising the stakes even higher for your enforcement agency.

“The FEC has failed to act in dozens of cases where the nonpartisan professional career staff recommended otherwise. And I just want to cite some statistics in the remaining moments I have.

“The non-partisan career staff recommended action in 59 matters alleging unlawful coordination between committees. 

“The commissioners did so in just seven of those cases, not judging whether they were with or without merit in the final, but just whether or not an investigation should continue and matters requiring dark money groups to register and report with the FEC, the commission acted on only five of the nonpartisan career staff's 24 recommendations on foreign interference.

“The FEC has acted on barely half of the nonpartisan career staff's recommendations most troubling in my mind is the FEC's apparent partisan enforcement of matters related to former President Trump.

“To date the FEC has considered 56 matters involving allegations that the Trump organization violated the law. After reviewing these matters, the nonpartisan career staff recommended commissioners find reason to believe a violation occurred in 26.

“Of those 56 matters, Republican commissioners voted down all 26. These votes carry the unmistakable odor of partisanship. And considering the data provided this committee on the most crucial matters facing the FEC since the Citizens United decision, 12 out of 109 nonpartisan staff recommendations have been advanced, meaning you have about a 110-batting average with the commission. 

“As a devout fan of the St. Louis Cardinal, sorry, Milwaukee brewers, you wouldn't be playing not only for the Cardinals, you wouldn't be playing in the minor leagues or anywhere else in baseball if you had 110 batting average. 

“So it raises the question, and I know I'm running out of time, so I'll just summarize and I'll come back to it with questions. But we need to seriously think about whether the nonpartisan professional staff's going to be allowed to investigate matters they think are appropriate and then you can adjudicate as you see fit, but at least allow them to investigate. 

“So with that, Mr. Chair, I'll yield back.”

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