Senate Republicans: Sequester Should Not Have Much Effect on FCC

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

According to Senate Commerce Committee Republican staffers,
the sequester should not have much of an effect on the FCC's operations.

That is according to the memo for Tuesday's FCC oversight
hearing in the committee.

While FCC chairman Julius Genachowski plans to tell the
committee that the sequester will harm spectrum management and public safety,
the memo suggests that won't be the case.

It says that the Universal Service Fund is not affected,
that the incentive auctions are not affected by the cuts, that while the
staffing level at the agency is already the lowest in 30 years, "it does
not appear to affect the FCC's ability to function adequately," and that
even with the cuts, the FCC still has a larger appropriation than in any
previous year.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.