Reforms would be made to help the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) reduce partisanship and better oversee campaign finance laws under bipartisan legislation recently introduced by U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH).
The Restoring Integrity to America’s Elections Act, which Renacci introduced with U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA), would limit FEC commissioners to one term, establish a blue ribbon advisory panel to recommend nominees to fill vacancies, and designate some administrative and investigative tasks to the chair.
“The Federal Election Commission is tasked with enforcing our campaign finance laws, but due to the commission’s current structure, it is not operating efficiently or effectively, which is unfair to hardworking American taxpayers,” Renacci said. “Every day Americans expect for election law to be properly followed and enforced, regardless of party ideology. It is important that these reforms are made to the FEC in order to hold politicians accountable to the American people.”
The FEC has increasingly deadlocked on investigations related to the nation’s finance laws in recent years. From 2006 to 2016, the volume of deadlocked cases jumped from fewer than 3 percent to 30 percent.
“We need to bring people-power back to this Congress,” Kilmer said. “But the commission designed to be the people’s advocate in our elections has seen more gridlock than Congress. Meaningful, substantial reforms at the Federal Election Commission need to happen so it can get back to weeding out campaign finance abuse and holding those who skirt the rules accountable. Making the commission work will help us revitalize our democracy and put the focus back on citizens rather than special interests.”
The legislation would reduce the number of commissioners from six to five to eliminate stalemate decisions. One of the members of the commission could not be affiliated with either party in order to make the commission more independent, and the chair would serve a 10-year term under the bill.
U.S. Reps. Mark Amodei (R-NV) and Larry Bucshon (R-IN) were among the bill’s bipartisan group of original cosponsors.