Federal Election Commission vice chair announces resignation, leaving the agency powerless
A highly contested presidential race is when the U.S. would need an election watchdog the most.
Yet the Federal Election Commission — the agency tasked with overseeing and regulating campaign finance in federal elections — is about to be rendered essentially powerless. That's because Vice Chair Matt Petersen submitted his resignation on Monday, leaving it without the four-person quota needed to vote, conduct investigations, and impose fines, among other things, The Center for Public Integrity reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The reduction of the FEC's power to essentially zero has been a long time coming, with the six-person commission running with just four members since early 2018. Commission chairs are usually nominated in pairs from opposing parties, but Trump only nominated Republican and bonafide Trump backer Trey Trainor back in late 2017. That means come September, the FEC will be left without most of its powers for the first time since 2008 — right as the heated 2020 election cycle really heats up.
Read more about the FEC's lost responsibilities at The Center for Public Integrity.
-
Europe’s apples are peppered with toxic pesticidesUnder the Radar Campaign groups say existing EU regulations don’t account for risk of ‘cocktail effect’
-
Political cartoons for February 1Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Tom Homan's offer, the Fox News filter, and more
-
Will SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic make 2026 the year of mega tech listings?In Depth SpaceX float may come as soon as this year, and would be the largest IPO in history
-
Trump sues IRS for $10B over tax record leaksSpeed Read The president is claiming ‘reputational and financial harm’ from leaks of his tax information between 2018 and 2020
-
Trump, Senate Democrats reach DHS funding dealSpeed Read The deal will fund most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
