Trump Again Seeks CPB Federal Funding Drawdown, Proposes FY 2021 Increases for FCC, NTIA

President Donald Trump’s administration again proposes to zero out federal funding for the CPB in his FY 2021 budget proposal, getting familiar opposition from the entity’s supporters. He sought to draw down CPB’s funding in each of his budget proposals since taking office in 2017 (see 1903180063). Trump seeks an increase in appropriations to the FCC and NTIA, but wants to slightly decrease the amount provided to the FTC. Trump signed off in December on FY 2020 appropriations, including $339 million for the FCC, $331 million for the FTC and $40.4 million for NTIA (see 1912190068).

Trump seeks just over $343 million for the FCC, including $11.3 million for its Office of Inspector General. That’s just over a 1 percent increase from the amount appropriated for FY 2020 and 2 percent more than the $335.6 million the Trump administration proposed last year. The FCC said it’s proposing to maintain its workforce at 1,448 full-time equivalents for FY 2021, including 60 OIG FTEs. The commission proposes to largely maintain workforce levels at each of the offices and bureaus. The number of staff at the Wireless Bureau will drop by two and at the Office of Managing Director by one. The Office of Economics and Analysis will see its workforce increase by three FTEs.

The administration is proposing that Congress give the FCC “new authority to use other economic mechanisms, such as fees, as a spectrum management tool,” the commission said in its budget justification report. “The FCC would be authorized to set user fees on unauctioned commercial spectrum licenses based on spectrum-management principles. Fees would be phased in over time as part of an ongoing rulemaking process to determine the appropriate application and level for fees. Fee collections are estimated to begin in 2021 and total $4.0 billion through 2030.” The budget proposal also calls for the FCC to “either auction or use fee authority “to assign spectrum frequencies between 1675-1680 megahertz for flexible use by 2022, subject to sharing arrangements with Federal weather satellites.” The FCC is weighing final rules for the 1675-1680 MHz band.

The FTC would get about $330.2 million, less than a 1 percent decrease from FY 2020 but more than 5 percent above the $312.3 million the Trump administration proposed for that year. The FTC voted 4-1 to submit its budget request, with Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter the sole no vote. The funding proposal “does not accurately reflect the funding the FTC needs to protect consumers and promote competition,” she said. “I appreciate the much-needed increase in funding that the FTC received” for FY 2020, “but more funding is necessary to meet the increasing demands on the FTC to protect American consumers.”

The administration proposed $72.2 million for NTIA, up 78 percent from what the agency is appropriated for FY 2020 and 70 percent above what Trump proposed for that year. The administration proposed allocating $25 million of the NTIA’s funding for “modernizing spectrum management systems.” The increase includes hikes in funding for NTIA’s Domestic and International Policies Program, which “will enable NTIA to drive and support the nation's efforts to promote and protect our economic and national security in the fast approaching 5G environment.” It also proposes a new public safety communications program aimed at providing “the critical leadership and support for the coordination, interoperability, transition, and technical resources for our nation's public safety agencies in their adoption and implementation of advanced communications technologies.”

Trump highlighted 5G as one of the areas that the U.S. needs to address “as we enter the 2020’s.” He wants to “prioritize artificial intelligence, 5G, and industries of the future.” To “meet these challenges and seize these opportunities, we must shift the Government out of its old and outdated ways,” he said in a message to Congress. “This will require each and every Government agency to do more to prepare for the demands of tomorrow.” The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy highlighted the budget’s proposal to increase research and development funding by 6 percent to $142 billion.

The Wireless Infrastructure Association is “thrilled with the support in the budget for training through apprenticeships which can prepare the wireless workforce of tomorrow,” said CEO Jonathan Adelstein. “We also appreciate the administration’s call for a ‘whole-of-Government approach’ and the need to refocus on the skills required for the jobs of the future, including 5G.”

The Patent Office also would get a funding increase, to just under $3.7 billion. That’s up 7 percent over what the office received in FY 2020 and what the Trump administration proposed that year. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is proposed to receive $737.5 million. That’s more than a 28 percent drop from its $1.03 billion appropriation for FY 2020 and an almost 23 percent drop from what the Trump administration proposed for that year. The administration proposed an overall 48 percent cut to the Department of Commerce’s appropriations, down to $7.9 billion from the $15.2 billion it received for FY 2020.

Trump’s proposal to draw down CPB funding seeks to allocate $58 million over two years to “conduct an orderly closeout, including $30 million in FY 2021. The FY 2020 budget increased CPB’s annual funding to $465 million beginning in FY 2022. CPB CEO Patricia Harrison said she’s looking “forward to working with Congress in the continued pursuit of our statutory public service mission of supporting educational, informational and diverse content that addresses the needs of our nation’s citizens -- a mission the American people overwhelmingly trust in and support.”

America’s Public Television Stations “are disappointed” by Trump’s CPB funding drawdown proposal, said President Patrick Butler. “We will continue to make our case with the Administration that public television plays a vital role in American education, public safety and civic leadership, in hundreds of communities across the country.” Congressional Republicans and Democrats “understand these contributions -- and our impressive return on the federal investment -- very well,” Butler said. Free Press Action Campaign Director Candace Clement criticized the proposal, saying it's "hardly a surprising move from a president who believes the press is the enemy of the American people, and who seeks to punish any journalist who asks challenging questions of his administration.”