The Federal Election Commission is down to 2 members. So its work is at a standstill

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The Federal Election Commission, an independent agency tasked with regulating campaign finance, has lost yet another member.

But the FEC has actually been without a quorum — at least four members — for months, leaving the agency unable to do much of its work.

Republican Trey Trainor told the Washington Examiner that he would be resigning as commissioner, effective Friday. Trainor did not reply to NPR's request for comment.

This is now the third departure of a commissioner during President Trump's second term in office, following the exit of fellow Republican Allen Dickerson and Trump's firing of Democrat Ellen Weintraub, which she and many experts say was improper.

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"He fired me without cause," Weintraub told NPR this week. "He fired me without precedent ... I was eligible to be replaced. So, I expected that was going to happen. What I did not expect was that I was just going to be fired and no one would be put in my place."

And because no one has been appointed in her place, or Dickerson's, the commission – which already had a vacancy when Trump entered office – can't meet or vote on anything.

Here's what to know about the FEC:

Without a quorum of commissioners, what is the FEC able to do?

The short answer is that the FEC hasn't