FEC Nominees On Track for Confirmation

To call this even a baby step forward is probably an overstatement, but it looks like Congress is about to fill two of the vacancies on the Federal Election Commission, arguably Washington’s most dysfunctional agency.

The Senate Rules Committee is set to vote Tuesday on the nominations of Lee Goodman, a Republican, and Ann Ravel, a Democrat. Both are expected to get the committee’s backing and have their names sent to the Senate floor for a final confirmation vote.

President Obama nominated Goodman and Ravel in June.

The FEC enforces federal limits on political contributions to candidates, parties and political action groups and collects and publishes data on campaign contributions and spending. It has six members, by law equally divided between Democrats and Republicans.

One of the Democratic seats currently is unoccupied however. The other five seats are being filled by commissioners whose terms have expired; federal law allows them to stay on the job until replacements are nominated and confirmed.