WASHINGTON-GOP lawmakers have taken steps to freeze the Federal Communications Commission’s budget next year at the current year’s $186 million level, waiting until later this summer to hold hearings on possible agency downsizing.
In the current political climate, FCC funding is more than just a fiscal matter. It has become a major political issue as the Republican-led Congress attempts to pass telecommunications reform legislation and balance the national budget by 2002.
As such, the future role of the FCC is being scrutinized. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., wants to phase out the commission in three to five years. The Progress & Freedom Foundation, which is closely tied to Gingrich, has mapped out a plan to replace the FCC with a much smaller office within the executive branch.
The FCC, requesting $223.6 million for fiscal 1996, has taken every opportunity to defend its continued existence by pointing out, for example, that the telecommunications reform bill headed to the House floor later this month heaps a slew of new regulatory responsibilities on the agency during the transition from regulation to competition.
“If we are to meet the challenges that will be within the delegated duties in the bills*…*I am sorry to report that the authorization of last year will not be adequate,” FCC Chairman Hundt recently told the House telecommunications subcommittee members in charge of authorizing appropriations for the commission.
Hundt said up to 270 more employees would be needed to implement the House legislation, which could give rise to 100 new regulatory proceedings.
While the FCC looks to telecommunications legislation as affirmation of its charter, some GOP members and the seven Baby Bells argue that is the very reason to make the House bill more deregulatory. And there is every indication that will happen.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., ranking minority member of the subcommittee, is one of the FCC’s strongest supporters. “I believe it is critical for the FCC to continue to receive adequate funding to meet the requirements that Congress imposes upon it,” said Markey. “To do otherwise would be to subject the FCC to a series of unfunded mandates that ill-serve the communications industry or the American consumer.”
Despite lively rhetoric on revamping the 2,271-person FCC, few changes are expected this year. A couple of units within the commission, however, could be in danger of elimination.
One is the Competition Division, an arm of the Office of General Counsel comprised of 13 attorneys and four economists specializing in antitrust analysis. The division has been criticized as the second Justice Department in Washington and is disliked by industry.
Also on the GOP hit list is the Equal Employment Opportunity Branch of the Mass Media Bureau, whose 20 employees focus on diversity in broadcasting and cable TV. Rep. Ralph Hall, D-Texas, has drafted language to do away with the branch.
The GOP attack on the FCC ironically follows sweeping reorganization and internal reforms by the commission. But conservatives want more; they want the agency eliminated.
In his written testimony, Hundt suggested next year the FCC be funded entirely from a portion of the $9 billion the government received from personal communications services auction revenues. He said collection of regulatory fees, which account for $116 million of this and next year’s FCC budget, has become unwieldy and unpopular.
That lawmakers have refused to increase FCC spending is not all bad news for the agency. Two-thirds of the requested budget hike, or $25 million, would go toward relocation of the FCC’s downtown headquarters to a new development called The Portals. The FCC opposes moving to The Portals, though it is under court order to do so. Thus, the freeze on FCC funding or other intervention by Congress could allow the commission to escape the move.
The FCC is seeking $5 million for additional computer upgrades. In addition, the agency asked Congress to let it deposit up-front payments by bidders in an interest-bearing account until the close of the auction.
FCC reauthorization legislation in the House also would set regulatory fees for PCS and extend the ban on cellular-receiving radio scanners to all commercial mobile radio services.
