Industry Lobbyists Struggle with Unpredictable Hill Access Amid Shutdown

Lobbyists expressed concern about the postponed Senate Commerce Committee vote on FCC nominee Michael O'Rielly, initially set for Thursday morning. “Things are definitely going to be cranking slower,” said Cathy Sloan, vice president-government relations at the Computer & Communications Industry Association. She noted congressional hearings and markups that have been put off, including the O'Rielly Senate Commerce executive session, and has heard about cancelled White House meetings. The full Senate would still have to vote on FCC nominees Tom Wheeler and O'Rielly if O'Rielly gets a Senate Commerce vote, she said. NAB was “obviously expecting” the O'Rielly vote, said an association spokesman.

The postponed O'Rielly vote caught the American Cable Association’s attention -- “one potential inconvenience” to the extent it delays a Wheeler-O'Rielly Senate floor vote, “something that most in the industry think should be taken care of,” said ACA Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman. “There’s a general consensus that a full commission is a good thing,” which ACA agrees with, he said. But it’s still unclear how much Thursday’s delayed O'Rielly vote or the overall government shutdown will affect the confirmation timing, if at all, he said.

The shutdown has not greatly hurt lobbying efforts yet, industry executives said. ACA had some Hill meetings cancelled, which hasn’t greatly disrupted its overall lobbying, Lieberman said. No postponed congressional hearings have been especially relevant to ACA priorities, he said. But that disruption may increase if the shutdown lasts two weeks or more, he said. “I don’t think a few days’ or a few weeks’ shutdown would have a significant impact” on Congress’s work in reauthorizing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act by the end of next year, Lieberman added.

NCTA had been “looking forward” to Tuesday’s House Communications Subcommittee hearing on 5 GHz spectrum, which was postponed, an NCTA spokesman said. Other than that, “the shutdown really hasn’t had much impact on NCTA yet as we've been able to have meetings on the Hill and with some federal agencies that we regularly interact with,” he said. “It’s a bit hard to predict what the impact will be if the shutdown lasts several weeks but we don’t anticipate that it will alter our priorities or change much for us.” CCIA hadn’t anticipated any big hearings or markups in the next week or so that now won’t happen due to the shutdown, Sloan said, also noting that the weeklong Columbus Day congressional recess is approaching anyway.

"A lot of times our schedule is dictated by what Congress does and hearings scheduled,” said the NAB spokesman. But NAB has found there are still members of Congress around, although it has received bounceback email messages from certain agency staffers, he said. Sloan heard of one trade association that had meetings on the Hill Wednesday, she said: “It’s very spotty.” Some members of Congress are more accessible than others, Lieberman said -- “about half and half.” Some offices have claimed the bulk of staff is exempted from furloughs, whereas others have taken a more conservative approach, he said, saying current staffing levels in particular offices may drop more if the shutdown wears on.

"The shutdown is interfering with the usual routine of meeting with staff,” said Russ Merbeth, chief policy counsel for patent assertion entity Intellectual Ventures. “And not being able to conduct business as usual does create a bit of anxiety.” He described difficulty already in getting personal office staff meetings, with staff members out of the office and overloaded. “Some [congressional] hearings continue and some Hill offices are still taking meetings, but it’s very unpredictable,” Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood said. “And of course everything is frozen at the FCC, all the way down to the website.” He judged the tally of stalled items “self-evident,” pointing to the hold of both shorter and longer-term endeavors “from the [low-power FM] window to incentive auction planning and everything in between.” Public Knowledge attorneys are still able to talk to congressional staff the way they did before the shutdown, but the FCC has been largely unreachable, said a PK spokesman. “Like most Americans, the mood here is disappointment that the Hill can sometimes be so irrational. We hope that this can be resolved quickly so everyone can get back to work.” It’s “just so sad” to see the negative impact on federal workers and their families, he said.

The NAB spokesman pointed to the shutdown effects on the agencies and the mergers and acquisitions they're reviewing, such as Sinclair buying Allbritton’s TV stations and Tribune Co. buying Local TV: “Everything gets put on hold a little bit.” The spokesman also wondered whether the shutdown would affect the progress of the FCC’s incentive auction. More people are asking one another for copies of documents now that agency filing systems are down, Sloan said. “Life goes on here,” said the NAB spokesman. “It’s not like we've closed up shop or anything. … You roll with the punches.” ,