House Republicans plan to continue chipping away at the Federal Communications Commission's fiscal 2001 budget with two bills to slash funding for two agency divisions that Republicans find particularly "bureaucratic."
During consideration of the fiscal 2001 Commerce- Justice-State spending bill, Republicans plan to offer amendments to trim about $1 million from the media relations office and the Office of Plans and Policy-the division responsible for long- term planning.
The offices employ three dozen staff at salaries as high as $130,000, according to the author of the amendments, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla.
Stearns seeks to cap the long term planning office at $880,000 and media relations at $640,000. Asked about the salaries, Stearns complained, "Most of these people don't even have law degrees."
The move is the latest development in the GOP's ongoing effort to clip the FCC's wings. Many Republicans, upset at how the FCC has implemented the 1996 Telecommunications Act, have tried for years to revamp the agency.
Meanwhile, the FCC has grown in the years since Congress passed that 1996 deregulation law. With a fiber optic-thin majority and a Democratic White House, GOP efforts to approve an FCC restructuring bill have been stalled.
Now, Republicans are seeking to slash funding for the agency. A similar provision already in the bill would cut in half the size of the FCC's Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs by limiting spending to $680,000 and reducing staff to eight employees.
That language was added after two senior Republicans accused the FCC of illegally lobbying Congress. The FCC said it did nothing wrong. Overall, the bill would give $207 million to the agency-$29 million below the president's request and $2 million less than this year's budget. The FCC was not available for comment, but President Clinton has signaled he would veto the Commerce-Justice-State spending bill in part due to the FCC budget cuts.
NEXT STORY: A year later, DOE still struggles with security