senate in action on appointing new f.e.c. members as of august 31st the commission will no longer have enough commissioners to legally meet you has my friends the new york times is reporting that the resignation of vice chairman map us peterson will effectively freeze the f.e.c. is governance leaving it one person short of a quorum and then and thus unable to take on some of its most basic actions including holding board meetings starting audit for making new rules in levying fines for campaign finance violations but that's not the only election issues facing the country we also saw this tweet featuring a video of an electronic voting machine malfunction in mississippi go viral reminding us all that as of now there are still 8 states using voting machines that do not leave a paper trail. but what i don't want to just pick on the united states it's not just them that has issues with their priorities my friends not when we see headlines like these g 7 called out for 20000000 amazon fire aid package jim carrey got that much for

senate in action on appointing new f.e.c.mbers as of august 31st the commission will no longer have enough commissioners to legally meet you has my friends the new york times is reporting that the resignation of vice chairman map us peterson will affect the belief freeze the f.e.c. is governance leaving it one person short of a quorum and then and thus unable to take on some of its most basic actions including holding board meetings starting audits making new rules in levying fines for campaign finance violations but that's not the only election issues facing the country we also saw this tweet featuring a video of an electronic voting machine malfunction in mississippi go viral reminding us all that as of now there are still 8 states using voting machines that do not leave a paper trail but what i don't want to just pick on the united states it's not just them that has issues with their priorities my friends not when we see headlines like these g 7 called out for 20000000 amazon fire aid package jim carrey got that much for t

our voting systems i'll start with you jesse how bad is it that our federal election commission the f.e.c. will essentially essentially be toothless come august 31st the stuff coming sunday because no one has bothered to appoint new commissioners to these 6 person group. well as i see it and what i'm looking at i've heard more and more that the trumpet ministration really came in very unprepared for the massive job that they had put in front of them and that was being the president being the executive branch of government it doesn't then there are there's all sorts of places that where things are not being filled this positions not being filled that position. while all of this isn't happening what is being filled you know things are trumps response and you know fights with the media fight with this sending out all the messages on a daily basis instead of bearing down and doing the job that he was elected to do and part of that job is the responsibility of filling those positions it was overwhelming filling them all or simply the governor of minnesota you can imagine what it's like when yo

isn't really quite cut it as a top priority for us to take the federal elections commission or f.e.c. which supposedly serves as a bipartisan watchdog in force or of campaign fine.

even in authoring the majority opinion in citizens united versus f.e.c., supreme court justice kennedy stressed the value of strong disclosure laws, writing, "prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters. shareholders can determine whether their corporation's political speech advances the corporation's interest in making profits, and citizens can see whether elects officials are in the pockets of so-called money interests." . voters deserve to know who's trying to buy their vote. the public deserves to know that our democracy is not for sale, our politics are not for sale, and our city is not for sale. before inviting up our presenters, i want to note that in addition to the report and supreme court decision i referenced, i've also introduced the following into the record for this hearing. number one, a civil grand jury report from 2013, requesting the city should require resolutions to require disclosure you ares and that the ethics commissio

the f.e.c. will continue to operate. but what can it do, can it police election finance laws? to know and for the american public to know is that the agency is not going to close its doors because we are down a commissioner. so all of the staff will be on their job making sure the american people have the information that they need about who is funding campaigns, and what the campaigns are spending that money on. all of that information will continue to be disclosed and there will be staff available to help answer questions and help people fill out forms. so the american people can be informed. >> that's the nation side. but what about enforcing when people break rulings. >> well that's going to be a problem. because the -- the agency will be able to continue doing investigations that have already been authorized but we won't be able to conclude any. we won't be able to have a vote on the final resolution of complaints that allege that candidates or political actors are violating the law. we won't be able to issue rules. we won't be able to issue advisory opinions. and that me