A government shutdown was looking more likely late Thursday (Dec. 20) after the House passed an appropriations bill, with over $5 billion in “wall/steel slat” funding that the Senate is unlikely to pass. If so, the FCC could continue to operate if it has prior-year funding to tap into, but if not, it will scale back to activities “immediately necessary for the protection of life and property.”
During last January’s brief government shutdown, the FCC remained open because it still had funding available—unlike other agencies, the FCC is self-sustaining, paying for its operations out of regulatory fees.
If there is a shutdown this time, too, activities that don’t qualify as exempt and will be suspended—according to a copy of the FCC shutdown plan obtained by B&C—include: “Consumer complaint and inquiry phone lines cannot be answered; consumer protection and local competition enforcement must cease; licensing services, including broadcast, wireless, and wireline, must cease; management of radio spectrum and the creation of new opportunities for competitive technologies and services for the American public must be suspended; and equipment authorizations, including those bringing new electronic devices to American consumers, cannot be provided.”
From Broadcastingcable.com
