Congress to Vote on Fiscal 2009 Spending Bills
Congress is expected to vote this week on spending bills covering the NTIA, FCC and RUS for fiscal 2009, which started Oct. 1, 2008. House Democrats released the spending requests Monday, bringing an outcry from Republicans who are arguing for a spending freeze. Proposed spending for the FCC is $341.8 million, slightly more than the $338.9 million approved last summer but never enacted. Instead, Congress passed a continuing resolution to keep the government running
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at FY 2008 levels until March 6, so a new White House and Congress could consider the spending bills.
The House released its package Monday as President Barack Obama convened a summit on fiscal responsibility. He’s scheduled to make a speech to Congress on Tuesday. The fiscal 2009 spending bills for the FCC, NTIA and RUS were among measures that President George W. Bush had threatened to veto. The agencies’ spending hasn’t raised specific concern, but they may get caught up in broader political debate over increasing spending just after Congress passed a stimulus package that won support from only three Republicans in the Senate. Some predict, with the difficult Senate debate expected, that Congress may need to pass another continuing resolution to keep the government running past March 6.
Spending proposed for the FCC includes $3 million to set up and run a program of matching grants for state broadband inventory maps. The goal is to “identify gaps in service and provide a baseline assessment of statewide broadband deployment.” The economic stimulus bill that Obama signed last week includes $350 million for NTIA for broadband mapping.
The bill also says no more than $25.4 million may be transferred from the Universal Service Fund in fiscal 2009 for Office of Inspector General audits to prevent misspending. The bill also would suspend Anti-Deficiency Act accounting rules from applying to the universal service program during fiscal 2009. Some in Congress want a permanent exemption for the fund. Rep. John Dingell, D- Mich., introduced legislation at the beginning of the current 111th Congress seeking one.
The spending bill for NTIA seeks $19.2 million, $773,000 more than the budget request. It tells the Commerce Secretary to coordinate with other federal agencies in handling the $43.5 million for DTV and public safety education activities. The bill also includes $20 million for public telecommunications facilities, planning and construction. Bush’s budget request proposed eliminating the program.
A distance learning and telemedicine broadband program at RUS would get just more than $400 million. Of that $4.9 million would be available for a grant program to help rural public TV stations with the digital transition.