White House Concerned With FCC Budget Cuts

The White House has threatened to veto the House appropriations bill. The legislation covers appropriations for a number of agencies including the IRS and OMB, which actually released the veto advisory (which includes criticism of a 10% cut in OMB's own budget). Under the Federal Communications Commission sections, OMB praises the auction receipts the FCC will have access to, but said added: "However, the bill also reduces regular appropriated funding for FCC to $323 million. Funding for FCC is budget neutral and without the proper amount of resources the agency would find it increasingly difficult to manage its responsibilities, such as supporting the build-out of public safety communications networks, overseeing mergers and spectrum transactions, and reforming the Universal Service Fund." The FCC had asked Congress for a 2% increase from $340 million to $347 million -- essentially flat when adjusted for inflation, despite increasing workloads in many areas. "The Administration strongly opposes the bill," said OMB. "If the president were presented with H.R. 6020, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill," it said.