Federal Election Commission

Features of Congress

Background Federal Election Commission • Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee • National Republican Congressional Committee • Filing requirements for congressional candidates • Classes of United States Senators • Filling vacancies in the U.S. Senate • President Pro Tempore of the Senate • United States Speaker of the House • Filibuster

Sessions 113th Congress • 112th Congress • 111th Congress • 110th Congress

Analysis Lifetime voting records • Net Worth of United States Senators and Representatives • Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives • National Journal vote ratings

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency created by Congress in 1975 to administer and enforce the Federal Elections Campaign Act. The FEC is responsible for disclosing campaign finance information, enforcing limits and prohibitions on contributions, and oversight of the public funding of presidential elections.

The six members of the commission are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. They each serve six-year terms, with two seats up for appointment every two years.

Requirements for candidacy

According to the FEC, an individual becomes a federal candidate, and must begin to report their campaign finances, once he or she has either raised or spent $5,000 in pursuit of his or her campaign. Within fifteen days of this benchmark for status as a candidate, the candidate must register with the FEC and designate an official campaign committee, to be responsible for the funds and expenditures of the campaign. This committee must have an official treasurer, and cannot support any candidate but the one who registered the committee. Detailed financial reports are then made to the FEC every financial quarter after the individual is registered with the FEC. Reports are also made before primaries and before the general election.

2012 reports

Candidates for President, Congress, State, District and Local Party Committees, and political action committees were required to file seven quarterly reports in 2012. Congressional campaigns were required to file if they raised or spent over $5,000 during the election cycle. The required reports were as follows:

Note: Filing deadlines are not extended when they fall on nonworking days.

Quarterly reports

2012 Quarterly Reports
Report	Period covered	Deadline
Year-End 2011	October 1 – December 31, 2011	January 31, 2012
April Quarterly	January 1 – March 31, 2012	April 15, 2012
July Quarterly	April 1 – June 30, 2012	July 15, 2012
October Quarterly	July 1 – September 30, 2012	October 15, 2012
Pre-General	October 1 – October 17, 2012	October 25, 2012
Post-General	October 18 – November 26, 2012	December 6, 2012
Year-End 2012	November 27 – December 31, 2012	January 31, 2013

Pre-election reports

All 2012 candidates for U.S. House and Senate must file a pre-election report if the candidate is running in the election. Political parties and PACs are only required to file pre-election reports if they are filing on a quarterly basis and they make previously undisclosed contributions or expenditures in connection with any primary and/or runoff.

Deadlines for these reports vary by state. A full listing can be found on the FEC's website.

Independent expenditures

Depending on the date and amount of expenditure, political committees and other persons may have to disclose independent expenditures within 24 or 48 hours.

These reports vary by state. A full listing can be found on the FEC's website.

Structure of the FEC

As of April 30, 2013, the Commission's six seats had one vacant seat and the other five sitting members' terms had expired. President Obama had nominated a replacement, labor lawyer John Sullivan, for the open seat in May 2009, but the Senate placed a hold on the nomination for over a year before Obama withdrew the nomination.

External links

• Official website of the Federal Election Commission
• FEC - Disclosure Date Search