WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission’s fiscal 1997 budget was frozen at this year’s $185.6 million level by the House Commerce Appropriations Committee last week, leaving the agency without the $30 million it sought to relocate its headquarters to The Portals.
The FCC budget approved by the panel is comprised of a direct appropriations of $59.2 million and $126.4 million in regulatory user fees.
The Clinton administration had requested $223 million for the FCC.
The Commerce appropriations bill is expected to go to the House floor later this week, but a controversial amendment by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston (R-La.) could keep President Clinton from signing the bill.
Mindful of last year’s budget showdown between the GOP-led Congress and the White House that produced two government shutdowns and that proved politically damaging to Republicans, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) is ready to pursue a temporary spending bill that would include all incomplete 1997 appropriations measures and fund them through March 31 at this year’s budget levels.
Much of the federal government, including the FCC, was without a permanent budget for the first six months of fiscal 1996. In March, Congress and President Clinton agreed to a single bill to fund all federal agencies lacking appropriations for the rest of this fiscal year.
With relatively little time left to conduct legislative business due to the Republican and Democratic national conventions in August and the fall campaigns, GOP lawmakers are under pressure to move appropriations bills now and do not want a budget controversy to interfere with congressional elections.
The March 31 date ostensibly would give newly elected public officials a chance to rethink spending bills for second half of fiscal 1997.
Perhaps more significant than the FCC budget itself was the message House GOP appropriators sent to the agency regarding the need for structural reform.
“The Committee is concerned that the FCC has not taken sufficient actions to streamline and reduce its operations in response to passage of the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996,” the committee report stated. “While the Committee understands that the Commission will experience a short-term increase in workload in some areas, the Committee believes that further opportunities exist to streamline and downsize the Commission as a result of the deregulation of the industry. Therefore, the Committee encourages the FCC to re-evaluate all of its functions and to eliminate those unnecessary regulatory functions which have been reduced or eliminated by this Act. Such actions will enable the Commission to achieve budgetary savings while promoting greater competition in the industry.”
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration was budgeted at $46.7 million for 1997, some $41 million less than amount requested by the White House.
