Federal Government Back in Business; Some Fear Long-Term Hangover

The full federal government got back to work Monday, after a prolonged partial shutdown that shuttered the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other agencies overseeing communications policy. Incoming FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks will be sworn in Wednesday by Chairman Ajit Pai in an eighth-floor conference room and will participate in the commissioners’ meeting that follows, said industry officials. President Donald Trump signed off Friday on a continuing resolution to reopen the FCC and other shuttered agencies through Feb. 15, after the House passed the measure as expected (see 1901240016).

There's disagreement, meanwhile, whether the shutdown will ultimately damage agencies’ ability to hire the best and the brightest. That's especially if another shutdown follows in three weeks. The shutdown cost the U.S. economy $11 billion, including a permanent $3 billion loss, the Congressional Budget Office reported.

The FCC posted more than 7,100 filings on its electronic comment filing system late Friday and Monday, with almost 6,000 of those short public comments on T-Mobile buying Sprint. Commissioners meet Wednesday at 11 a.m., only to hear announcements.

A deluge of filings is on the way. A Monday public notice said deadlines for all filings due Jan. 3-29 are now due Wednesday. The extension doesn’t apply to filings in the network outage reporting and disaster information reporting systems or to filings on spectrum auctions, all of which weren’t delayed. Grants of special temporary authority that expired through Tuesday expire Wednesday. “The Commission will soon issue further guidance on revised filing deadlines,” the agency said. “We ask parties to refrain from submitting filings seeking additional relief from filing deadlines until they have reviewed the further guidance that the agency will be issuing.”

“Wonderful to welcome back my @FCC coworkers this morning!” Pai tweeted Monday. “Happy to be back at work.” The eighth floor has been a lonely place for the past few weeks with only commissioners and Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, industry officials said.

“It's been a long time. Too long,” tweeted Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. She's sorry the shutdown slowed work “to bring opportunity to all in the digital age.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who hadn’t been tweeting with the FCC shuttered, posted many Monday.

Brain Drain

Some fear the shutdown's effects could be long-lasting, especially if a second closure soon follows. One effect “of this disastrous five-week shutdown is the impact on recruiting and retention of highly skilled employees,” emailed Tony Reardon, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents FCC employees.

“There will be talented job applicants who will think twice before joining the federal workforce because of the instability caused by repeated government shutdowns,” Reardon said. “Many federal employees choose to work for the government because of their desire to serve the public, but if that service comes with disrespect, pay freezes and shutdowns, they may be more likely to take their skills to the private sector.”

“Shutdowns are a huge turn-off to attracting the best and brightest to government, especially when they come so frequently,” said former Commissioner Michael Copps, now at Common Cause. “They cost us good people and good money.”

Fear of future shutdowns could keep agencies from attracting applicants from corporate sector, agreed Francisco Montero of Fletcher Heald. “It depends a lot on the private sector economy.” At times like after dotcom bubble burst in the early 2000s or after 2008's recession, federal government jobs “were highly coveted,” Montero said. “Federal government employees held on to their jobs like they were gold, and unemployed or laid-off private sector workers flocked to the very few federal openings that appeared. Ask me again when there’s a market downturn or a recession. Federal jobs may not be so unpopular then.”

Every job involves “tradeoffs,” said Kristian Stout, International Center for Law & Economics associate director. “Theoretically, taking a job at a federal agency gives you enough prestige to help offset some of the downsides,” he said. ”Shutdowns like this are pretty rare and almost impossible to sustain. ... Given that we all tend to have relatively short memories, I would assume that less-skilled federal employment won't be affected all that much.”

Precedent

Hiring will be especially tough in areas like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and big data “where government needs to add talent for the challenges ahead and the competition for talent is most fierce,” said Blair Levin, former FCC chief of staff.

Others said many will still seek federal jobs regardless of the pitfalls and suspended paychecks.

Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak noted his beard got started during the 21-day shutdown in 1995-96 when he worked for the FCC. A shutdown is still “an anomaly more than a rule,” he said. “In the current deregulatory and cost-cutting environment, private sector work is probably more volatile.” The federal government gives people a chance to work on cutting-edge issues “often with ‘first chair’ responsibility,” Spiwak said. “You simply can’t get that kind of exposure and experience in the private sector as a young attorney or engineer.”

Most lawyers, engineers and policy experts working for the federal government could find or have had “more lucrative employment in the private sector and chose government service,” said Scott Harris of Harris Wiltshire. “A commitment to government service will continue to motivate potential federal employees, despite the hardships that were so needlessly inflicted.”

No Rush

Though there could be another shutdown in three weeks, most communications attorneys won’t feel they need to rush to lobby the FCC during that window, said National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston. Some entities may have pressing matters to address now, but most industry officials won’t be operating as though another closure is looming, said industry lawyers.

Attorneys could seek to lobby on items that were pending when the shutdown began, said Wiley Rein broadcast lawyer Eve Reed. Proceedings that may now be delayed because of the shutdown -- such as kidvid -- are likely to be a focus of lobbying efforts as advocates seek to keep them from being “back-burnered,” a broadcaster said. Since the FCC is only just back to work, many regulatees are likely to give the agency a little time to get back into the swing of things before they queue up for lobbying visits, Reed said.

There hasn't been a flood of calls to schedule lobbying visits, said an FCC official.

Many broadcast lawyers will be pushing to pay online filing fees and upload online public file items now that the FCC is back, said Fletcher Heald's Dan Kirkpatrick. Systems governing those processes were closed during the shutdown, and it’s not clear to what extent deadlines connected with those procedures will be extended, attorneys said. Several raised concerns FCC systems mightn't be up to the task of handling the heavy load of filings as entities play catch up, as of Monday afternoon there hadn’t been any apparent problems.

Media Dockets

American Cable Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman said the Nexstar/Tribune application will likely be filed soon, now that government reopened. ACA has retransmission consent concerns about the deal; Nexstar didn't comment on the timing.

Lieberman said docket items that had been active in late December -- such as cable leased access and channel lineup requirements -- are likely further along and thus higher up on the agency’s to-do list. Lieberman said with the slew of filings due soon, his focus is on those rather than lobbying at the agency. He said most likely are giving bureaus “breathing time” to get back up to speed and figure out where they left off. That mightn't be true for everyone, such as those whose matters weren't addressed during the FCC closure, like license renewals, he said.

Word is it could take a week to 10 days before the agency is back up to speed, said cable lawyer Scott Friedman of Cinnamon Mueller. He said it likely also will be busier than usual with operators and other licensees that haven't been able to conduct business at the agency but that had compliance questions arise. "I don't know how someone couldn't be concerned" government will again scale back in three weeks if budget agreement isn't reached, Friedman said.

New Filings

Telecom providers cited their efforts to help consumers fight unwanted robocalls, among newly released documents in responses to a call from Rosenworcel (see 1901280049). AT&T's BellSouth asked the FCC to clarify aspects of what doesn't constitute a VoIP call and urged it declare state and local governments are barred from imposing higher 911 charges on interconnected VoIP service than on similar non-VoIP service (see 1901280037). Many compliance filings were posted, including hundreds of Form 555 USF eligible telecom carrier annual certifications in docket 14-171.

On Capitol Hill, the House Commerce Committee said Monday it's canceling Thursday's hearing on the shutdown's effects on federal agencies under the committee's jurisdiction, which include the FCC and FTC (see 1901240040). House Commerce cited the end of the impasse and House leaders’ decision not to keep the chamber in session Thursday as reason to cancel. The hiatus was seen as affecting Hill ability to do oversight of the FCC (see 1901160031).

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sunday endorsed the Stop Shutdowns Transferring Unnecessary Pain and Inflicting Damage in the Coming Years (Stupidity) Act. S-198 would aim to prevent future closures. The bill would automatically renew government funding at the same level as in the previous fiscal year for all agencies except the White House and the legislative branch if there would otherwise be a lapse in appropriations. “Now that the shutdown is over, we should roll up our sleeves and make sure it never happens again,” Schumer said during a news conference. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, noted momentum for his End Government Shutdowns Act. S-104 would ensure automatically that a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government is in place when negotiations to pass regular federal spending bills falter (see 1901100020).