WASHINGTON-Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), chairman of the House commerce appropriations subcommittee, said the Federal Communications Commission will not receive the $223 million requested for fiscal 1997 and blasted FCC Chairman Reed Hundt for delays in addressing long-term public safety needs and in implementing a court order that would overturn the cellular separate subsidiary rule.
“You’re going to have to cut back on these costs,” said Rogers, sparking a testy exchange with Hundt.
Rogers cited the $40 million sought to relocate FCC headquarters to The Portals next summer and staffing for the International Bureau and telecommunications reform implementation as likely targets.
“We’ve got money problems and we got to tighten our belt, and we’ve got to squeeze out any unnecessary spending,” said Rogers.
Hundt, repeating previous requests to fund the FCC from auction revenues or interest payments, replied, “Mr. Chairman, I can’t tell you in advance that I think our employees should not have desks or that I know places to buy cheaper desks. I can’t make these promises to you. I can tell you I’ll work with you as much as I know how to do, but I cannot tell you I know of savings to be accomplished here.”
“Well, then I can’t tell you you can have your money,” said Rogers.
Rogers, whose criticism of the FCC last year prompted the creation of a federal advisory committee to assess public safety communications needs though 2010 and to make recommendations for satisfying those requirements, again reprimanded the agency for missing a second deadline in accomplishing that task.
The FCC was supposed to report to Congress March 1 on public safety future requirements, having failed to meet a 1993 legislative mandate to have the report finished by February 1994. Hundt said the advisory committee, headed by Washington, D.C., communications lawyer Philip Verveer, is expected to finish its work by September.
The Association of Public Safety Communications Officers was sharply critical of the FCC for failing to have a comprehensive plan in place in early 1994, but has since toned down the rhetoric as the public safety community, the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration combine forces on the advisory committee.
Hundt said the committee is having trouble developing a consensus, calling the issue “a very complex subject” given the hundreds of law enforcement agencies at the state, federal and local levels.
“In the meantime, we’re transferring more government spectrum for auction before we know what the public safety needs of that spectrum is,” said Rogers. “That’s why we want that report.”
Hundt said he did not believe the public safety community will lose the opportunity to acquire spectrum before the advisory committee completes its mission.
Hundt agreed to try to get the public safety report out sooner than September. Rogers, to emphasize the importance of the issue, cited the inability of local, state and federal authorities to talk to each other over two-way radios following the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building last April.
On a unrelated matter, Hundt told Rogers the FCC will act in the next 10 days on a ruling last November by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati to repeal the cellular separate subsidiary requirement for regional Bell telephone companies.
Rogers also raised concerns about whether staffing for international communications at the FCC and NTIA were duplicative. Hundt defended the 138 staffers in the FCC’s International Bureau, saying the satellite industry is the envy of the world and that resources spent on domestic regulation and international negotiations represented a wise investment.
“This is a booming industry,” said Hundt.
Irving, whose agency is funded for 16 employees to work on international communications issues, agreed.
“Candidly, I think we’re selling our U.S. industry short,” said Irving. “I don’t think we’re opening as many doors” as he believes is possible as a result of understaffing in his shop.
The FCC has been funded at $175 million for the first seven months of fiscal 1996. But the agency will receive $10 million more for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Oct. 31, owing to the recent budget agreement between the GOP-led Congress and the Clinton administration covering the FCC and scores of other federal agencies.
Rogers also voiced concern about U.S. taxpayers footing an anticipated $14 million bill for a major international telecommunications conference two and a half years from now in Minneapolis. The House commerce appropriations panel chairman suggested that industry should pay a portion of the costs.
