Federal Hiring Freeze Seen Likely to Delay Work on Some Initiatives at FCC

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has some wiggle room, but the federal hiring freeze President Donald Trump imposed Jan. 23 could be at least somewhat of an impediment for the chairman going forward, former officials said. The freeze isn't total -- the Trump memo allows hiring Schedule C political appointees and limited numbers to noncareer Senior Executive Service (SES) employees. The FCC didn't comment.

“I think it will hold him up,” said a former aide to an FCC chairman. “If you look at the last administration, a lot of the people who came in, came in to career slots and so weren’t tied up in the political process.” Other former officials agreed that the hiring freeze is a problem, if nothing else keeping Pai from replenishing the pipeline of talented younger employees who eventually will move up to leadership positions at the agency. “It’s a big deal,” said a former legal adviser.

“A hiring freeze is a shotgun response to managing government,” said Michael Copps, former acting FCC chairman, now at Common Cause. “Telling an agency responsible for one-sixth of the economy it can't bring on bright young communications engineers, lawyers, and others hobbles not just the agency, but shortchanges the public. It's strange how those who complain about the FCC taking too long to handle its business are the same folks who want to cut out its muscle. The commission needs to be fully staffed to serve the public interest, and the chairman shouldn't be forced to hunt for loopholes in the president's ill-conceived hiring freeze.”

A lot depends on how many noncareer SES positions the administration allocates to Pai, former FCC officials said. Pai must find jobs for all of the career SES employees at the FCC when he started, said former officials familiar with the personnel process. The FCC had 59 career SES positions at the end of the Obama administration, records show, though there were possibly a few unfilled slots.

Traditionally, the commission gets five noncareer SES and three Schedule C employees, as assigned by the Office of Personnel Management. When the Obama administration came in eight years ago, it set that number based on the numbers in the so-called Plum Book from the previous administration. The chairman also gets to hire as special employees, without Civil Service protections, a chief of staff, three aides and a confidential assistant. Each commissioner gets to hire three exempted employees and a confidential assistant.

Among noncareer SESs under former Chairman Tom Wheeler were David Simpson, chief of the Public Safety Bureau, and Shannon Gilson, director of the Office of Media Relations. The Schedule C employees were Michael Dabbs, chief of the Office of Legislative Affairs, and Eric Feigenbaum and Kim Hart, also in media relations. All the Schedule Cs and noncareer SESs left with the Obama administration.

“It’s got to be frustrating for the chairman not to be able to bring people in, whether it’s senior people or young people in the pipeline,” said Gigi Sohn, a top aide to Wheeler, now a fellow at the Open Society Foundations. “Whoever said that a lot of the leadership and legal advisers in the last FCC were careerists, that’s true. To be able to fill those slots and then elevate people is really important.” The hiring freeze is “clearly affecting the agency, there’s no two ways about it,” Sohn said.

Strong Team

Industry officials questioned whether staffing issues will slow Pai as he implements his agenda. “Because Pai was a sitting commissioner, he already had a strong team ... as well as knowledge concerning the way the commission works,” said Randolph May, president of the Free State Foundation. “And he does have leeway to bring in some new people who are attuned to his views. Of course, any hiring freeze that remains in effect in effect for an unduly long period poses management challenges, but it is too early to worry about that. I’m optimistic that Chairman Pai can accomplish most of what he wants to do with the FCC staff that he’ll have available.”

Several lawyers with ties to past Democratic FCCs said Pai’s agenda in part is focused on reversing Wheeler administration initiatives, from ISP privacy rules to the reclassification of broadband as a common-carrier service. “Reversing the Wheeler decisions is largely a lawyers' task and the companies will provide very significant legal assistance,” said a former top FCC staffer. There will be lots of merger and acquisition activity but Pai will be happy to let DOJ or FTC do most of the analysis, the ex-official said.

Pai downplayed the problems posed by the freeze, in response to a question during a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing (see 1703080070): “We have been so busy producing work product for the American people that I haven’t had a chance to talk to our human resources and other administrative experts to figure out what we haven’t been able to do. What I can say is that we’re making progress on some of our core priorities.” Pai said the Office of Inspector General and the Enforcement Bureau field offices had open staff positions.

Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in a blog post Wednesday that, given constraints, the FCC should downsize its agenda. “When Commission leadership has changed and is reconsidering and reconstructing its approach to many issues across the agency, there needs to be a realization from everyone that those priorities of the past Commission -- not directly required by statute -- should not necessarily be the focus of staff time,” O’Rielly wrote (see 1703220063). “With resources at such a relative premium, staff attention shouldn’t be spent pursuing outdated goals.” He cited privacy and cybersecurity, issues where he said the FCC lacks statutory authority. “Enforcement staff should move away from headline grabbing and eye popping penalties that will never be collected,” he said. “Refocus our attention on our statutory responsibilities and realize a new Chairman gets to set the Commission’s agenda.”