Victor Fazio: “But it is rather ironic that this is presented as additional responsibilities for the Federal Election Commission when…”

“But it is rather ironic that this is presented as additional responsibilities for the Federal Election Commission when in fact, if my colleagues read the bill, there is no new authorization for what the report that accompanies the bill says would cost another $2 million simply to perform. That is not unusual when we look at the history of how Republicans have handled the FEC. Year after year after year the commission charged with responsibility for compliance under current law comes to the Congress and asks for a budget that would increase their ability to enforce the law, only to be rebuffed by the appropriations process dominated in the last 3 cycles by the Republican Party, cutting 8-10 percent from the requests, always cutting in the area of compliance, therefore requiring in 1996 hundreds of complaints to be thrown out, so that we cannot even finish requiring people under existing law to live up to their responsibilities as candidates.”