Reid offers compromise on FEC stalemate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told the White House Tuesday that he is willing to make a “significant concession” to break an impasse that has stifled the Federal Election Commission during the presidential campaign season.

In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, Reid said he would hold over commissioner Ellen Weintraub to remain on one of the FEC’s three Democratic seats. He said he would float a new Democratic nominee to replace Robert Lenhard, who withdrew from consideration earlier this month. And he would still seek the confirmation of Steven Walther to sit on one of the Democratic seats.

In exchange, Reid said he would “commit” to a speedy review of two new Republican candidates after the White House either withdraws or the Senate rejects the controversial nomination of Hans von Spakovsky, who Democrats strongly oppose because of allegations that he suppressed minority rights as an official at the Justice Department. The third Republican seat would be occupied by sitting commissioner David Mason.

Mason and Weintraub have continued to serve on the FEC this year even though their terms have expired because no successors have been confirmed to fill their seats.

"There is no need to settle for the fiction of a Commission when we readily have the ability to constitute a true six-member Commission with the candidates we have at hand," Reid said.

It’s unclear whether the White House will continue to insist on von Spakovsky, whom it says is well qualified for the post and has been unfairly attacked by Senate Democrats.

Emily Lawrimore, a spokeswoman, said the White House was reviewing the letter and had no comment.

The FEC has been stifled this election year, since it is short of the four members needed for a quorum on the six-person panel. As a result, the commission has not been able to promulgate rulings on ethics legislation to reveal fundraisers who “bundle” large sums of money for presidential candidates or rule on whether GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) can pull out of a federal matching funds program.

A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Reid's proposal is "another version of the status quo."

 J. Taylor Rushing contributed to this story.