WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission fared better than expected in the current temporary funding bill that lasts through March 15, but the head of the agency predicts there will be big problems if more money is not forthcoming.
“We got a little bit better, but we’re still in trouble,” said Reed Hundt, FCC chairman.
Instead of being funded at last year’s level, as was the case in the previous stop-gap spending bill and remains the case for other federal agencies in the ninth “continuing resolution” of fiscal 1996, the FCC received appropriations through the middle of March at the this year’s House-Senate conference level of $175.7 million.
That represents a $10 million increase for the FCC over the previous stop-gap measure of $166 million, which Hundt called crucial but not optimal. “That’s the difference between absolute calamity and a bad situation,” said Hundt.
New funding falls short of the $225 million requested by the commission for this year.
The impact of the budget crisis has forced the FCC to curtail purchases and travel. The long-term impact of a budget stalemate could have more serious consequences. The FCC must implement telecommunications reform legislation, an unprecedented bill that calls for numerous rulemakings and transitional regulatory actions. In addition, the agency needs extra cash to move its 1,700 employees to new headquarters.
“We don’t have enough money to pay for the cab to get us there,” said Hundt. “We can’t pick up the sofas and carry them there; there’s no solution offered yet.”
On a macro level, the prospect of a first-ever United States default is looming overhead. GOP congressional leaders and the White House are negotiating on how and when to pass a bill to raise the $4.9 trillion debt ceiling. Republicans want to attach budgetary items to debt-ceiling legislation when they return from a month-long break later this month. The administration says waiting until a few days before the March 1 deadline is too risky.
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin has dipped into federal worker pension funds to avoid a default, but he says such money-shifting is no longer an option. His handling of the issue prompted Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.), to accuse Rubin of making “misleading statements” … “about the possibility of a federal default.”
Democrats say Republicans are to blame for making debt-ceiling legislation a political football. “Never in a million years would I have thought that anyone in a leadership position in Congress could ever consider doing something like this,” said Don Fowler, national chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
“Shutting down the government was bad enough,” added Fowler. “Threatening default was horrendous. But what they are proposing now-refusing to pay America’s bills-is straight out of the looking glass, out the door and straight into loony land. It is one of the most irresponsible, unthinkable acts that I have ever heard proposed.”
