FEC enters the midterms with two of six commissioners, too few to open investigations or answer campaigns' legal questions

The Federal Election Commission, the agency that enforces federal campaign-finance law, cannot advise campaigns or investigate alleged violations heading into the midterms, the Washington Post reports. The commission has six seats and needs four votes to act. Only two commissioners remain. What stops. The commission cannot open new investigations, fine violators, finish audits or issue formal advisory opinions. An advisory opinion is a binding answer to a campaign that asks whether a specific plan is legal. What continues. Staff still take in and publish campaign finance reports, answer filing questions and log new complaints. Where it stands. Restoring the four-member quorum takes at least two new commissioners, each confirmed by the Senate and sworn in. One new commissioner alone would leave the agency at three, still one vote short. The Senate holds only pro forma sessions (brief meetings where normally no business is done) until Monday, Nov. 9, but it could confirm both nominees at one of them by unanimous consent, which means no senator objects. The next sessions are Monday, Oct. 19 and Thursday, Oct. 22, per the Senate's published schedule.

What the Justice Department can still prosecute without the FEC:

• Knowing, willful violations totaling $2,000 or more in a year carry up to one year in prison. At $25,000 or more, the maximum is five years.
• Turning campaign money into personal spending, or deliberately falsifying reports filed with the FEC, remains a federal crime the Justice Department can charge.