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06/22/2017

Pai Defends FCC Budget Cut

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the commission can do more with less—102 fewer full-time employees, for example— while working toward its core mission to protect the public interest and close the digital divide.

Pai, joined by commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O'Rielly, testified Tuesday on the FCC's budget before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

The FCC has asked for about $322 million, 5.2% less than the previous year, even though the FCC's budget has been flat since 2009.

Related: FCC's O'Rielly: More WiFi Work to Be Done

Pai conceded it was a challenge to do more with less, but that the FCC had rolled up its sleeves. And while he said past chairmen had pointed out that the FCC is fully funded by fees charged to licensees, he also remembered—and more than one legislator reminded him—that someone was paying that fee, including businesses big and small and the consumers to whom those fees were passed along.

Pai said that even with fewer people, the FCC had more than doubled the number of items it was dealing with at its public meetings—saying the average was now 5.83 items vs. 2.58 under his predecessor. He cited a number of cost savings as well, from closing an off-site warehouse to cutting down on the number of printers and copy machines.

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