“New Chair Takes Over a Paralyzed Federal Election Commission”

This is from a couple days ago:

he Federal Election Commission officially has a new chair.

Democrat Shana Broussard, who was nominated to the commission in 2020 by President Donald Trump, formally became FEC chair on Tuesday, two months after her fellow commissioners elected her to the position. It’s Broussard’s second time in the role; she previously chaired the commission in 2021.

Broussard is the first permanent chair at the FEC since February, when Trump abruptly removed longtime commissioner and then-Chair Ellen Weintraub from the agency. Since then, Republican Commissioner Trey Trainor has served as the commission’s acting chair.

Broussard is beginning her tenure as chair at a particularly difficult moment for the FEC. The six-person commission has seen its membership cut in half since the beginning of the year. 

Republican former Commissioner Sean Cooksey resigned in January to take a job in Vice President JD Vance’s office and Trump ousted Weintraub a month later. Republican now-former Commissioner Allen Dickerson then resigned from the agency in April – on the same day Broussard was elected chair – when his term in office expired. 

The resignations and Weintraub’s firing has left the FEC one commissioner shy of the four-member quorum it needs to hold meetings, issue advisory opinions and take enforcement actions. Trump has yet to nominate replacements for any of the vacancies, and it’s unclear when he might do so. Even then, any nominee would have to be confirmed by the Senate before taking office.

Despite its lack of a quorum, the agency has continued to collect, process and post campaign finance disclosure and transaction information.

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