Congress Proposes FY22 Increases for FCC, FTC, NTIA in Omnibus

The House was set to vote late Wednesday on an FY 2022 omnibus appropriations package that includes funding increases for the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other tech-related federal agencies. Preliminary votes on the measure, filed as an amendment to shell bill HR-2471, hadn't happened by our deadline as chamber leaders worked out a deal to cut COVID-19 aid language from the measure after some members objected earlier in the day. The chamber was also expected to vote on a short-term continuing resolution (House Joint Resolution 75) to extend federal funding through Tuesday in a bid to give the Senate extra time to also consider HR-2471. The current CR would otherwise expire Friday night.

“It is heartbreaking to remove” the COVID-19 funding from HR-2471 “and we must continue to fight for urgently needed COVID assistance, but unfortunately that will not be included in this bill,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. A group of nine Senate Republicans were, meanwhile, pressing the Congressional Budget Office to provide information on the omnibus’ “inflationary effects on interest rates, outlays, and deficits.”

HR-2471 would give the FCC $381.95 million for FY22, 10% above what the agency got for FY 2021. That’s what the FCC got in the House-passed HR-4502 (see 2107290061) and 1% less than the Senate Appropriations Committee proposed. The package would give the FTC $376.5 million, 7% above what it got in FY21. That’s about 2% less than Senate Appropriations proposed (see 2110180069) and 3% less than the House included in HR-4502. NTIA would get $50 million. That’s 10% more than it got in FY21 (see 2012210055), but 38% less than Senate Appropriations proposed and 44% less than the House approved in HR-4502.

The Patent Office would get $4.06 billion, 10% more than in FY21, level with Senate Appropriations’ proposal but 2% more than the House included in HR-4502. The National Institute of Standards and Technology would get $1.23 billion, almost 19% higher than in FY21. That’s 11% less than Senate Appropriations proposed and 10% less than the House previously approved. The Bureau of Industry and Security would get $141 million and a separate $22 million allocation to “respond to” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The bureau got $133 million in FY21.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would get $2.59 billion, 10% more than in FY21. That’s more than 1% less than Senate Appropriations proposed but 4% more than House Appropriations advanced in HR-4431. The omnibus includes language from the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (HR-5440), which would direct the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to work with stakeholders to establish requirements and processes for critical infrastructure owners and operators to report some cyber incidents to a new Cyber Incident Review Office within the agency. The DOJ Antitrust Division would get $192.78 million, 4% above FY21 but 4% lower than Senate Appropriations and the House proposed.

CPB would get $525 million beginning in FY 2024, more than 10% above what CPB got for FY 2023 but 7% down from the $565 million America’s Public Television Stations sought (see 2202280068). The HR-2471 omnibus includes $40 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Next Generation Warning System to support public broadcasting infrastructure, $30.5 million for the Department of Education’s Ready to Learn program and $20 million for the public broadcasting interconnection system. APTS said in a statement it’s “very pleased” with the CPB funding increase, which it noted “ties the record for the largest single year increase” in that entity’s history.

House Appropriations touted the omnibus’ inclusion of $550 million in rural broadband funding via the Department of Agriculture, including an additional $450 million for the ReConnect program. “These significant investments in broadband reflect a commitment to enabling Americans in rural communities to access digital tools necessary to improve health, educational, and economic outcomes,” House Appropriations said. House Agriculture Committee ranking member Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania and other Republicans criticized USDA during a Tuesday hearing for its decision to factor a company’s commitment to net neutrality into decisions on whether to award an applicant ReConnect money (see 2111080063).