May 19, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 94 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages S2492-S2493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     EXECUTIVE CALENDAR--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.


                   Nomination of James E. Trainor III

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, we are here to vote on a nominee, 
James Trainor, to be a Commissioner at the Federal Election 
Commission--the independent agency responsible for enforcing Federal 
campaign finance laws.
  I am deeply disappointed in today's vote, which is a departure from 
the Senate's longstanding tradition of considering FEC nominees on a 
bipartisan basis and another step in eroding the traditions of the 
Senate--all for a candidate who holds extreme views toward the agency 
to which he would be appointed.
  Prior to today, the Senate has voted to confirm 47 FEC nominees, and 
42 of those nominees have been confirmed through a bipartisan process. 
As the ranking Democrat on the Rules and Administration Committee, I 
have repeatedly urged my Republican colleagues to work with us to get 
the FEC running again, as it is unacceptable that the agency charged 
with protecting the integrity of our campaign finance system has been 
without a quorum for 261 days--the longest period without a quorum in 
the agency's history--but this is not the way to do it.
  The FEC has been plagued by partisan gridlock for years. With a 
general election only 168 days away, we should be working together to 
make sure that the agency is working to the fullest extent possible. 
Americans are tired of hyperpartisanship and gridlock. This is not the 
time to abandon the bipartisan tradition of moving FEC nominees 
together. We need to work to restore their trust in our political 
institutions, and with this vote, we are taking a step backward. We all 
know that our campaign finance system is broken. Everyone in this room 
knows it. Spending on campaigns has gotten out of control, and special 
interest groups are a major part of the problem.
  Experts suggest that at least $6 billion will be spent in the 2020 
election cycle on political advertisements alone. That doesn't count 
the billions that will be spent by the campaigns themselves and the 
additional billions spent by dark money groups and special interests 
which are trying to influence this election. In order for our democracy 
to work, we need strong rules for campaign spending, and we need a 
strong agency to enforce those rules. We should be working together, on 
a bipartisan basis, to propose solutions to try to get the FEC back on 
track.
  I have a few ideas. We should work together to pass legislation to 
reform the FEC's rules so it functions better. We should establish a 
working group that will investigate bipartisan solutions to improve the 
function of the FEC. We should also work together to elect strong 
nominees from both parties who will serve on the Commission with the 
understanding that they are there to enforce the law and protect our 
election system--and, oh, does this election system need protecting 
right now.
  We are in the midst of a pandemic. We have people standing in garbage 
bags and homemade masks in the rain in Wisconsin just trying to 
exercise their right to vote. Nearly 50 of those people got sick. We 
have a poll worker who got sick. We have States all over the country, 
with both Democratic and Republican Governors, that are desperately 
trying to get funding so we can have more at-home voting and have the 
polls open earlier and have them open for days so people don't have to 
all congregate on 1 day, and on that day we have to also make our 
elections safer. We have a lot to do.
  When it comes to elections, we know that the enforcement agency for 
things like campaign finance is the FEC. We know it is broken, and we 
as a body should work to improve it.
  My Republican colleagues, on this particular nominee, have repeatedly 
said that by confirming Mr. Trainor they are doing some good restoring 
a quorum. OK. That is not the full story of this nomination. It ignores 
the fact that gridlock will persist, and Republicans have intentionally 
left a Democratic seat on the Commission vacant for more than 1,100 
days.
  It ignores the fact that Leader Schumer and I referred a Democratic 
candidate to the White House for consideration and that she has been 
vetted and cleared. She is immensely qualified, and she would be the 
first person of color to ever sit on the FEC. Yes, that is right, the 
first person of color not only in this Congress but the first person of 
color in the history of the Federal Elections Commission to serve on 
the Commission.

[[Page S2493]]

  Since Republicans refuse to move forward in a bipartisan manner, the 
agency charged with enforcing our campaign finance laws will continue 
to remain ineffective. This undermines our country's political 
institutions, and it does not serve our country's best interests.
  Many people refer to the Senate as the world's greatest deliberative 
body because the Senate, as an institution, is designed for the careful 
consideration and debate of legislation and nominations. When we erode 
the bipartisan norms that make us the greatest deliberative body, we 
end up allowing unqualified nominees who hold extreme views to be 
appointed to important positions in our government just at a time when 
we should be doing the opposite.
  In addition to these process concerns, today we are also being asked 
to move forward with a nominee to the FEC who doesn't believe in basic 
campaign finance law. The FEC was created to enforce campaign finance 
law, so it is critical that the agency be staffed by Commissioners who 
believe in its mission so it can police people from both parties.
  Mr. Trainor has consistently worked to dismantle the rules that keep 
corruption out of our political system. He has spent his career arguing 
that people should not have to disclose political spending and has 
worked to stack the deck against voters by gerrymandering districts in 
Texas to dilute minority voting power.

  Trainor's views on disclosure are inconsistent with decades of 
Supreme Court precedent, including the views of late Justice Scalia. 
When fellow Republicans in the Texas Legislature worked to require 
politically active nonprofit organizations to disclose their donors, 
Trainor challenged them and said that such a law ``would have a 
chilling effect on anybody's ability to speak.''
  Let's just step back. Those were fellow Republicans on the Texas 
Legislature simply trying to put some reforms in place so we knew where 
those donations were coming from, and he spoke out against that.
  Moving forward with this nomination today may restore a quorum, but 
it does not serve the American people. The American people deserve an 
FEC that works, an agency that enforces the law and protects our 
political system from corruption. At a time when unprecedented amounts 
of dark money and foreign money are flowing into our elections and 
influencing our courts, a fully functioning FEC is critical to 
safeguarding our political system.
  When it comes to the agency in charge of enforcing our campaign 
finance laws, the absolute minimum qualification should be that the 
person actually believes in the mission of the agency. Is that too much 
to ask?
  We need to focus on how we can help the American people safely vote 
during this pandemic. I mean, we need to focus on this pandemic, 
instead of the series of votes that we have seen this week, but if we 
are going to decide who should serve on the FEC during this pandemic, 
it should be someone who believes in the mission of the FEC.
  We need to work together to hold hearings with bipartisan groups of 
election officials, like we have been working to do on the State level 
when it comes to how to vote in this pandemic. There has been a lot of 
good work going on with Republicans and Democrats, Governors and 
Secretaries of State. We need to do the same thing in this Chamber as 
we approach major legislation and as we approach our working with the 
FEC.
  I oppose the process by which this nominee has come to the floor, and 
I believe the nominee's extreme views are disqualifying for this 
important office. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote no on this 
nominee.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________