FCC Down But Not Out Despite Weather-Related Shutdown
The business of the FCC is limping along even with the federal government closed Monday, Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. Thursday’s meeting has been delayed until 3 p.m. Feb. 18. The commission on Tuesday also postponed Wednesday afternoon’s scheduled Emergency Response Interoperability Center forum. The FCC probably will extend some filing deadlines a few days by public notice. Under FCC rules, anything due when the government is closed is generally due the next business day.
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FCC headquarters was open Monday and Tuesday and some staff members were reporting for duty, commission officials said. The instruction to FCC staff was they had the same access as on a Sunday, with the building open for essential personnel only.
Some members of the broadband team made it to the office and others worked remotely with the March 17 deadline for the National Broadband Plan fast approaching, a spokesman said. Some meetings were still taking place between FCC staff and industry representatives, though by phone instead of in person.
Thursday’s FCC meeting was canceled in part so staffers wouldn’t have to come in to finish up work on items scheduled for a vote, an official said. “There’s always a lot of work to do before an item gets ready for a meeting” by bureau staff. Without staffers in the office, filings uploaded by communications lawyers to the Electronic Comment Filing System this week and over the weekend haven’t been put online. The daily digest didn’t go out, and the commission’s Web pages haven’t been updated.
In the winter of 1995-96, the federal government had long shutdowns because of 46 total inches of snow, former commission officials said. The FCC ended up delaying the starts of two auctions. Little that dramatic is expected this year, officials said.
“I think those that have been able to come to work are here working, but the vast majority of FCC employees are heeding warnings to stay home because of hazardous driving conditions,” a commission said, though work on the NBP continues. “At the same time it will probably delay by a few days other matters. But I think some folks will try to work from home as much they can.”
“I don’t think there will be a big impact,” an industry lawyer said. “I don’t think they'll seek more time on the broadband plan or anything like that. Pretty much it’s business as unusual. … People are able to work remotely much more easily they could 10 or 15 years ago.”
A former FCC official reflected on the blizzards in 1995-96, compounded by a shutdown of the government related to the budget. “We found a way to get things done that absolutely needed to get done,” the person said. “I don’t see any long-term impact. There'll be various short-term impacts, various things that were supposed to go out that obviously didn’t go out and there'll be some short-term delays and things like that.”
Some advisers to FCC members went into the office Tuesday, partly to plan for the meeting because it wasn’t canceled until Thursday afternoon. But “it’s exceedingly quiet here, as you'd imagine,” a staffer said.
On Capitol Hill, the House canceled votes for the week, lengthening the chamber’s Presidents’ Day recess. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., blamed “inclement weather affecting Members’ ability to travel to Washington.” To make up for the lost time, the House will work two extra days, returning from the recess a day early, Feb. 22, and staying an extra day, Feb. 26. Senators were on the Hill Tuesday to vote on two nominations.
The snow forced several congressional committees to postpone meetings scheduled for Wednesday. The Senate Judiciary Committee shelved a hearing on fighting cybercrime and identity theft, the House Terrorism Subcommittee put off a hearing on Defense Department information technology and cybersecurity activities and the House Foreign Affairs Committee postponed a hearing about the “Google predicament” in China. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China postponed a meeting about Google and that country, planned for the afternoon.
Among events delayed, the Democratic Leadership Council put off a roundtable about innovation and jobs, featuring a senior AT&T executive, the Small Business Administration’s head and a House member. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., canceled an event about distracted driving with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other speakers. The New America Foundation turned a forum about journalism’s future into a webcast.
The Capital Content network put off a breakfast about the information industry’s prospects for 2010. The Federal Communication Bar Association’s Transaction Practice Committee postponed a Wednesday lunch for getting to know the transaction team in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel. Also postponed was a Tuesday FCBA mass media lunch to have featured Steven Waldman, advising FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on the state of the media industry. No new dates for the various forums were set. - - Howard Buskirk, Jonathan Make, Adam Bender, Louis Trager