With no end to the federal government shutdown in sight, FCC Chair Brendan Carr is warning of “a fair number of negative consequences” already slowing the agency’s core operations and jeopardizing critical communications work nationwide.
Speaking during the USTelecom Broadband Investment Forum, Carr said that while a limited number of exempt FCC employees remain on duty to handle national security responsibilities, they are doing so without pay. “We’ve got licensing matters where people are looking for renewals or to get new licenses, including to build out networks,” he explained. “Those licenses are simply not getting processed by the FCC right now.”
Carr added that with the Commission’s reporting systems and filings on hold, the agency has been relying on limited carryover funds to sustain essential programs. Those reserves, he warned, are “now dwindling.”
Under the FCC’s shutdown plan, nearly all deadlines are paused until the agency reopens, including EEO Public File Reports and Quarterly Issues and Programs Lists, originally due October 1 and 10, respectively. Those materials will now be due the next business day after the FCC resumes normal operations. Stations subject to the 2025 EEO audit cannot currently upload responses through the Online Public Inspection File, which remains offline.
The Licensing and Management System is also inaccessible, delaying filings for station sales and transfers and preventing public review of previously submitted deals.
Despite these disruptions, the FCC still plans to hold its October Open Meeting tomorrow, though no agenda items directly affecting radio broadcasters are expected.
Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects are spreading beyond the Commission. On Monday, October 20, the federal judiciary exhausted its funding for full operations and shifted to limited activity. Judges will continue serving, but most court staff have been furloughed, with only essential constitutional and safety-related duties performed without pay.
That slowdown means likely delay in several prominent radio-related cases, including Cumulus Media’s antitrust suit against Nielsen, NPR’s injunction request over the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s $57.9 million satellite grant reallocation, and Voice of America’s case against the Trump Administration.
Then last time there was a shutdown (previous ones as well), they at least left the website on line for accessing LMS, public files, etc. Since these are automated systems, there is no reason they should be offline. The computers are still getting paid…nothing, as is usual during normal times.
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