Thread by @davelevinthal

1/ The @FEC — it's tasked with enforcing and regulating the nation's campaign finance law — may soon face a reckoning on Capitol Hill.

If you haven't been following along for the past year, this'll get you up to speed.

@FEC 2/ The independent, bipartisan @FEC has six commissioner slots. Only four are filled, and of those, all commissioners are still serving despite their terms having long ago expired. publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC 3/ Many high-level @FEC jobs are also vacant or being filled in an "acting" capacity. publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC 4/ Morale at the @FEC ticked up slightly last year, but overall, it remains in the basement among comparably sized federal agencies publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC 5/ In early 2018, the @FEC moved into a new headquarters. It's quite nice. But it still can't quite escape it's old HQ. publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC 6/ The U.S. House committee responsible for overseeing the @FEC hasn't conducted an oversight hearing since 2011. Under new Chairwoman @ZoeLofgren, D-Calif., that will likely change. publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC @ZoeLofgren 7/ Said @RepRaskin: "We clearly need to have an oversight hearing on the FEC. We need to shine a spotlight on dysfunction at the FEC.” publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin 8/ Matters in 2019 didn't start well for the @FEC. In fact, they didn't start at all. That's because the FEC was one of the federal agencies that was shut down for most of January publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin 9/ Not that matters at the @FEC haven't been anything but turbulent since it opened back up in late January. For one, it's been months since it began discussing what to do about foreign ads in U.S. elections. It's reached no comprehensive decision. publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin 10/ The @FEC also doesn't yet have a plan for how to address findings of foreign infiltration of U.S. elections as described in the Mueller Report publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin 11/ Meanwhile, it's been 26 months since the @FEC has employed an internal watchdog. For the past 6+ months, its inspector general office has effectively gone dormant because of this situation: publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin 12/ As of this moment, the @FEC is again attempting to fix its inspector general problem, but hasn't yet. publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin 13/ On April 1, Rep. @ZoeLofgren sent the @FEC a letter with 46 questions about its operations. The letter's gist: Why are you messed up? documentcloud.org/documents/5793…

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin 14/ On May 1, the @FEC responded to @ZoeLofgren. When @publici asked the @FEC to share its responses publicly, the FEC refused.

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin @PublicI 15/ On May 9, the Committee on House Administration agreed to give @publici the 170+ pages worth of the
@FEC's responses. This is what those documents say: publicintegrity.org/federal-politi…

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin @PublicI 16/ What's next? Rep. @ZoeLofgren's office says the Committee on House Administration plans to conduct an @FEC oversight hearing sometime this calendar year. A date has not yet been set.

@FEC @ZoeLofgren @RepRaskin @PublicI 17/ In the meantime, the @FEC is next scheduled to meet in public session on Thursday, May 23. fec.gov/updates/may-23…