Bloomberg BNA:

The Federal Election Commission deadlocked on a Republican proposal to write new rules easing campaign finance limits on political parties.

The 3-3 FEC vote during a Nov. 17 commission meeting appeared, at least initially, to doom the proposal by Republican Commissioner Lee Goodman to roll back some fundraising restrictions imposed on party committees following the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, known as the McCain-Feingold law.

Goodman’s two fellow Republican commissioners joined him in supporting the proposal, while the three commissioners holding Democratic seats opposed it. The vote derailed his proposal to draft new party rules for public comment.

Immediately after the deadlocked vote, however, Democratic FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub moved to advance a combined rulemaking plan to ease party restrictions while strengthening rules for super political action committees. Specifically, Weintraub proposed linking Goodman’s rulemaking plan with a proposal she authored, along with FEC Chairwoman Ann Ravel, a Democrat, to clamp down on single-candidate super PACs.

A vote on Weintraub’s motion was delayed until the next scheduled FEC open meeting in December, along with votes on several other agenda items discussed at the Nov. 17 meeting.