Amending the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to Extend the Administrative Fine Program for Certain Reporting Violations

Floor Speech

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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague from Wisconsin for advancing this bill.

I rise in strong support of S. 2747, and I will probably be repeating and underscoring some of the things my good friend said, because this is important legislation. We should take time out to acknowledge how important it is.

This bill extends the Federal Election Commission's Administrative Fine Program for certain campaign finance reporting violations, which, as my good friend mentioned, has been extended several times in the past, last time through President Trump, and this will take it through the end of 2033.

The important program allows the FEC to assess administrative fines against those who fail to timely report their receipts and disbursements. The FEC relies heavily on the Administrative Fine Program to enforce campaign finance law.

It has been remarkably successful, as has been said. Since the year 2000, the FEC has made public more than 4,000 violations, and, through the program, has assessed more than $8.8 million in fines.

It is important to note, before the program began, an average of 21 percent of campaign finance reports were filed late. Since the Administrative Fine Program has been in place, that number has been reduced to less than 10 percent.

The FEC has made it clear to Congress that this program is one of the most effective tools it currently has to combat campaign finance violations, and the extension of the program, which expires at the end of this year, is indeed vital.

Extending the Administrative Fine Program is the Commission's top- priority, bipartisan legislative recommendation, and the Commissioners reiterated the need to extend the program during a hearing in front of the Committee on House Administration in September.

Further, this extension has wide bipartisan support. A version of this extension, I will just note parenthetically, was included in both the Democrats' Freedom to Vote Act and the Republicans' ACE Act. It is interesting when we can get an agreement on two bills which vary pretty dramatically. I was grateful to partner with Chairman Steil on the House version of this extension.

Transparency and accountability in campaign finance are crucial to ensuring a healthy democracy. More than a century ago, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Louis Brandeis declared that: ``Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.'' This counsel, encouraging transparency and promoting good governance, remains vitally important to any strong civil society today.

Transparency about who is seeking to influence Federal elections is crucial to democratic self-governance. This is the purpose of the FEC, and this bipartisan act, S. 2747, will ensure that the FEC can continue to use one of its most effective tools to carry out its vital mission.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support S. 2747 to help preserve a crucial program and key tool enforcing our Nation's transparency and accountability laws.

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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to be here with my colleagues. It is interesting to me, as I went home over the weekend, there were a number of public events. One of the things people are concerned about in Congress, when they watch us, is that we often seem to have the inability to agree on anything.

Well, I remind people that is not always true. There are things that we do agree on. There are things that are important to this government and important to our democracy. I think this is a great example of people coming together on both sides to support an important tool that can be used to ensure our elections have the confidence of the American people and make sure that candidates who seek office are providing the kind of information necessary for transparency and accountability, as my good friend from Wisconsin has said.

I thank the chairman and the members of the committee. It is a privilege to be here, and I encourage all colleagues to support this piece of legislation.

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