Lawmakers averted a potential shutdown of the federal government late Thursday by passing a short-term spending. Government funding would have expired today if lawmakers couldn’t agree on a spending package for the next fiscal year. The next deadline looms later this month.
A shutdown would mean federal agencies can’t operate, except for emergency situations. Federal agencies began preparing for a shutdown. The FCC, for example, issued its “Plan for Orderly Shutdown Due to Lapse of Congressional Appropriations” yesterday.
The FCC has been through this before. Generally all of its activities stop — other than “those immediately necessary for the protection of life or property,” according to the agency. That means furloughed FCC staffers can’t answer their phone or respond to email messages, nor travel or attend meetings for work. Licensing services — including wireless, wireline and broadcast — stop.
In addition to a half-day for planning, the agency estimates it can shutdown in four hours. Some 1,492 employees would be working for the Commission before the shutdown and 227, including the Chairman and four Commissioners, would be retained afterwards because their compensation is financed by a source other than annual appropriations.
December 8, 2017
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